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Chapter Text

Being in love was the absolute worst. Ashleigh had successfully managed to avoid being afflicted by it for thirty long years, and then suddenly she'd been hit with it out of the blue, in exactly the worst scenario imaginable. She'd heard the urban legends about mercenaries falling for their targets countless times- having it happen to her was so ironic that she almost had to laugh.

And that had been three years ago. Things had only spiralled since then, but at least she was still on track for her mission. All she had to do now was figure out the best way to subtly murder Mary, and then she'd be able to eliminate two birds with one stone! A way in to a permanent position on the project, and a way out of her terribly inconvenient feelings.

She realised that she'd lagged behind Mary and Newton, and increased her pace to keep up with them. The three of them were on their way to visit Lilian so that Mary could discuss the final plans of the expedition. They had picked Newton up from school on their way round, and he was chatting animatedly to his mother about his day. Mary responded to him with equal enthusiasm- Ashleigh wondered how either of them found the energy.

They found Lilian talking to another scientist- not one that Ashleigh was familiar with, not that she interacted with anyone other than Mary anyways. Newton waved at her as she noticed them approaching.

"Let's just hang back until your mom is done talking to her." Ashleigh said to him in a low voice- Newton was still grasping the concept of when it was the appropriate time to pretend to be a rampaging prowler, and when it very much was not.

"Okay!" He said.

About fifty seconds later, Newton decided that the conversation had ended (it hadn't) and it was therefore the perfect time for him to re-assume his prowler persona and crash right into Mary (it wasn't).

"Newton! Stop playing-" Ashleigh said weakly, but it went unnoticed. It was just a good thing that Lilian and Mary both had a sense of humour. She stood there awkwardly as they went along with the prowler bit: Mary scooped him up in her arms, Lilian tickled him, and Newton shrieked with laughter so loudly that Ashleigh could've sworn she heard glass shattering.

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, they went back to business mode. Mary set Newton down on the ground and Lilian quickly picked back up on where their conversation had left off. (Not that Ashleigh had been listening in, but it was concerning Newton while Mary was going to be away. The trip wouldn't even take a week, but when you're six years old it might as well be a decade. Ashleigh wondered who would look after Newton after she killed Mary.)

"Mary, of course I'll protect Newton while you're away- and always." Lilian was saying. (At this point, she was practically tempting fate.) Newton tugged on the hem of her blazer, concerned.

"But who'll protect Mum?"

Two birds, one stone. Just the two of them and the black hole. She could see it now- the easiest murder in the world.

"I will." Ashleigh said, her mind already racing to figure out the billion different ways she could play this to her advantage. Now just to secure it.

"There's enough fuel to carry the extra weight for two round trips," She added, "and who'll listen to your absent-minded singing, Mary?"

She caught her eye. Mary just looked... taken aback, if she had to make a guess from her widened eyes and slightly flushed cheeks. She had to keep talking- make a joke, perhaps?

"Oh- I'm sorry- Doctor Somers."

Now Mary was smiling. It felt surprisingly hollow to take advantage of one of their in-jokes like that, and even worse to realise that fact.

But Mary still hadn't responded. For a single, idiotic moment, Ashleigh hoped that she'd turn her down.

Lilian had other plans.

"Well? Don't leave the girl hanging..."

(To Ashleigh's absolute horror, Lilian actually winked at her as she said this.)

And then Mary extended a hand towards her, and as she took it she knew that she had just set herself on an irreversible course. Not as if she'd ever had much of a choice to begin with.

"It'd be my honour, dearie- I'm sorry, Doctor Reid." Mary laughed, not making any move to break the handshake. Ashleigh stared dead ahead (anywhere but her eyes) as Lilian placed a hand on each of their shoulders. She looked as if she was about to make a motivational speech.

"See? You're never alone." She said instead. Lilian was fond of saying that.

Ashleigh's heart was beating unusually fast, so she withdrew from the handshake. Mary blinked, letting her arm swing down to her side, and the moment- whatever that moment was- ended.

"Well! I'd better get this one home." (Ashleigh had almost forgotten that Newton was standing there, as he had been impressively still.) "See ye tomorrow, dear!"

"Bye, Mary." Ashleigh just about managed a smile.

"And thanks so much, Lil."

"Ah, it's my pleasure! Have a good evening."

Ashleigh muttered a quick goodbye and left- she didn't feel like sticking around until they finished exchanging pleasantries. There were other things on her mind.

The door to her apartment closed easily without the need to slam it, but she slammed it anyway. Without even bothering to kick off her boots, she stormed to her room to visit her rat.

The rat- this one was called Prowler- pricked up his ears as she entered the room. The cage was notable for being one of the only personal items in Ashleigh's room- or, indeed, her entire apartment.

"Hey there, Prowler." She said softly, unlatching the cage. "Sorry about the holdup."

After she was certain he'd settled securely on her shoulder, she moved over to her bed and sat down heavily. There was a sick, twisting feeling in her stomach.

"I guess this is it, then."

She'd known this was coming, of course. Since the minute she'd taken on the assignment, she'd known that the best way to ensure her access to the branthium, as it was now called, was to kill Mary. She was her way in, and nothing more than that.

But how could she have predicted that Mary would be so... Mary? She'd given up trying to deny that she liked her (to put it lightly) months ago. Even worse, she didn't want to kill her.

Ashleigh knew that the correct course of action right now was to call her superiors and update them on her mission status. But before she could really think about it, she'd already reached for her tablet on her bedside table and begun to draw up a pros and cons list.

Pros of killing Mary: Secure position within the project (though not only way to achieve this).

Cons of killing Mary: Could cause unwanted suspicion. Will slow progress of project.

And after some deliberation, she added: Mary dies.

Ashleigh stared at her list, satisfied.

"Screw it." She said out loud to Prowler. "I'm the only one out here putting my neck on the line for this mission. Why can't I just have this one thing?"

Prowler, being a rat, did not respond. That was all the justification that Ashleigh needed.

Returning to standard mission protocol, she went to find the phone that she stored underneath Prowler's cage. She clenched her jaw as the phone rang, until finally someone picked up. And before she could have any second thoughts, she announced:

"There's been a change of plans. I'm not killing Somers."

Chapter Text

Mary's apartment was as cluttered as it was welcoming. Ever since the branthium had been located, Ashleigh had found herself spending more time here than the lab itself.

She cast her mind back to her conversation with her superiors the day before as Mary bustled around in the kitchen making a pot of tea- her own special blend that comprised of a slightly insane amount of ingredients, including several plants that Ashleigh hadn't even known were edible.

"Are you insane." They had said. "Are you literally insane? Why the change of plans? How else do you expect to secure a permanent position on the project if Somers is still around? They won't need you! What are you going to do- beg?"

"I know, I know." Ashleigh had replied tersely, trying to disguise the uncertainty that she was now very much feeling. "But I'll figure out a way. I've proved that I'm useful to them- I'll find a reason for them to keep me around."

"If this doesn't work: that'll be it, Reid. Are the risks seriously worth this? You shouldn't sell yourself so short, for one- you can lie your way out of anything,"

(Ashleigh couldn't help smiling at that comment- they were at least spot on in that regard.)

"-and there are tons of scientist out there. Peck can hire replacements- what's so special about this one?"

She took a moment to collect herself for her answer.

"Listen to me. I am the only one actually witnessing this project- Somers is an asset that we can't afford to lose. I am handling it."

Her superior had sighed, defeated- and then came the last jab that had almost made her heart stop.

"You know, if it was anyone else, I would've thought you'd gotten attached."

Then they'd continued before Ashleigh could squeak out a protest:

"But fine. Do it your way. But if you fuck this up, yours will be the only head on the block- understand?"

"Of course."

"We need this job, Reid. Don't do anything stupid. And report in once you've secured the branthium, alright?"

"Right." Ashleigh had bit out before hanging up.

"Sooo." Mary said, returning to the living room with a teacup in each hand. "Space."

"Space." Ashleigh agreed. "We should probably talk about that."

Mary sat down right next to her on the sofa and handed her a teacup.

"Oh, thanks." Ashleigh stared down into it.

"Right- so. Since the ship was only set up with me in mind, there's only space for one of us to sleep at a time."

"So, we'll take turns?"

"Exactly. Och, and what about yer rat?"

"Ah."

Somehow that had slipped her mind.

"Well... I ken Newton is very taken with him...?" Mary suggested.

"Er... maybe? With supervision, I guess that could work."

"Aye, well, I'll ask Lil to make sure he's looking after him properly."

Ashleigh nodded. "Sure. Thanks. God, how does she have time for anything?"

Mary shrugged. "To be honest, it's a little terrifyin'."

She realised she hadn't been drinking her tea, and sipped it quickly. Ashleigh hadn't been a tea drinker before she met Mary, but now it was one of her favourite things to drink. (Come to think of it, she hadn't really had favourite drinks before either.)

"What else..." Mary mused. "Oh, er, space suits. We'll have to get ye one of those. Any colour preference?"

Ashleigh raised her eyebrows. "I didn't know I got a choice in that."

(The mission was arranged by Lilian: of course she got to choose the colour of the space suit.)

"I mean, I could put in a request! May be a wee bit late now, though..."

Ashleigh shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I really couldn't care less."

"Oh! Okay." Mary smiled. "We'll need to get yer measurements some time, as well."

"Sure. I'll sort that later."

Mary was tapping her fingernails idly onto her teacup.

"I'm glad, by the way."

"Hm?"

"That yer coming with me. I ken I said I'd be fine alone, but honestly..."

"It's no problem."

...No problem, except that she had been plotting her murder up until less than 24 hours ago. But now that that that weight was lifted, maybe the trip could be... fun? (No. Ashleigh reminded herself. This isn't meant to be fun. My retirement will be fun- not this.)

"Oh! That reminds me." Mary said suddenly- her train of thought was as fascinating as it was incomprehensible. "Aleki's research is finally wrapping up- he'll be back in a few months. Most likely right after we'll get back, I think!"

"Oh. Great."

The extent of Ashleigh's interactions with Dr. Aleki Gibraltar so far had been over video call, as he had been conducting research into the energy crisis from various other planets in the Outlands for the last few years. These encounters had been enough to inform her that she was not looking forwards to meeting the man in person.

"Ashleigh." Mary lightly tapped her shoulder in mock indignation. Ashleigh realised that Mary had somehow shuffled even closer to her on the sofa, and then tried very hard to think of anything but that.

"What?"

"He's lovely. Or, at least, he seems lovely in his video calls. Ye cannae be mean about Aleki before you've even met him!"

"...Fine. You're right."

"'Course I am!" Mary leaned back into the sofa, folding her arms- she'd already finished her tea.

Ashleigh mentally kicked herself- she'd gotten too comfortable and lapsed back into her bitchy tendencies. The last thing she needed was Mary realising what a terrible person she actually was.

"You're really excited about this trip, aren't you?" She asked, steering the subject away from Gibraltar.

Mary grinned. "Look. Of course I've travelled in space before; like, normal transport a few times. But this trip? We'll be goin' into uncharted space. Us! Goin' where nobody's ever been before! How can I not be excited?"

"I mean- when you put it like that..."

Her enthusiasm really was infectious. And if it meant she was one step closer to her goal, was it really so wrong for Ashleigh to feel a little excited too?

As long as she kept her priorities in order, she told herself, she'd be absolutely fine. And sparing Mary wouldn't change that.

(Right?)

Chapter Text

The weeks before the launch flew by, and before she knew it Ashleigh had been landed with a space suit that matched her lab coat (she would've preferred orange, but it was what it was), and an invitation to dinner. This wasn't unusual in itself- Mary had insisted on it even before she'd made the mistake of accidentally revealing that she didn't have any family back in the Frontier- but it had been a while since Mary had been free enough to actually arrange it.

The door swung open before Ashleigh even lifted her finger from the doorbell.

"Ashleigh! Right on time." Mary leaned on the door frame as though she'd just skidded across her shiny floors in her socks to get to the door. (Actually, Ashleigh wouldn't have been surprised if this was the case.) "Honestly, it's been too long since we last did this."

"Thanks for inviting me again."

"Well, of course! Yer a part of the family too- and it's so rare that we're all free for dinner these days."

Ashleigh nodded silently, unable to formulate a response to that. At first, Mary's friendliness had been disconcerting, to say the least. Ashleigh had taken the job expecting to maintain a fairly typical working relationship with her, but to her horror she had wasted no time in inviting her out to lunches, stargazing, vacations... She knew that this was definitely not how assistants were treated, but it seemed to signify that she had good standing with her, so she'd reluctantly gone along with it at first. But even now, remarks like that still felt so alien. Why did she go to so much effort for her? Ashleigh didn't understand it at all- all she could offer her in return was her help within the lab. Surely the two didn't equate?

Lilian and Newton were all already sitting in the kitchen.

"DOCTOR REID'S HERE!" Newton announced. (This is what he'd been calling her from the beginning, and despite Mary's best efforts, he'd staunchly kept up the habit so far.)

"Evening, Newton. Lilian."

Newton looked at her very intently. "Did you bring Prowler with you?"

Ashleigh shook her head and moved to sit down in the empty place opposite him. "You know how he gets. He'd be upset that he couldn't eat..." She paused, realising that she didn't actually know what was for dinner.

"Spaghetti!" He filled in for her.

"Right. Well, actually, he is allowed a little pasta as a treat, but even so it wouldn't be a good idea."

"Aw. Why?"

"It's just..." Ashleigh sighed and tried to figure out how to explain it to him. "You know how you get a stomach ache if you eat too much of something?"

Newton nodded slowly.

"Right. Prowler is smaller, so this happens to him with a lot less food than it does for you. However, he's also very greedy, so if I'd brought him with me he'd be squeaking all dinner to ask for more food than he needs. Also, I really doubt that your mother would want him on the table while we're eating." She inclined her head towards where Mary was piling spaghetti bolognaise onto plates.

"Aye." Mary added, not turning around. "Prowler's sweet, but he cannae be on the table durin' dinner."

"Okay." Newton frowned. "Auntie Lilian? Can I give Prowler dinner on the table when Mum and Doctor Reid are in space?"

Lilian laughed. "No! The rules don't change just because they'll be gone for a bit!"

"You know, you really shouldn't make secret plots when the people you're plotting against are in the same room."

Mary groaned exaggeratedly. "Dinnae encourage him, Ashleigh! He hasn't discovered dishonesty yet, and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible."

"Sorry! It had to be said, that's all."

(Ashleigh went to get her meal, and heard what sounded suspiciously like Mary trying not to laugh as she took her plate back to her seat.)

"I have to ask," Lilian said, twirling her fork deftly, "why spaghetti? It's not exactly what you usually make."

"I know this one!" Newton butted in, sticking his hand up as if he was still in class. "It's 'cos black holes make you into spaghetti if you go near them!"

"Oh." Lilian looked at Mary with her eyebrows raised, as if she was asking her to verify the fact.

"Spaghettification." Mary agreed, through a mouthful of the term's namesake. "While it doesn't literally make ye into spaghetti, it's a pretty close analogy. Not that that'll be happening to us, right?"

Ashleigh shook her head. "Provided everything goes to plan, neither of us will come back as a noodle of our former selves."

Newton studied his pasta with even more interest now.

Ashleigh mirrored him and stared down at her plate as a thought occurred to her. She wasn't the only (now neutralised) danger on this expedition. There were still so many things- tiny things- that could go wrong and kill either of them, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it if it happened. What if keeping Mary alive was out of her hands entirely, one way or another?

That's irrational. The reasonable part of her brain reminded her. And besides, me going is safer than her going alone. Olympus has state-of-the-art equipment. It doesn't get any safer than this.

"Well, just make sure you don't jinx yourselves, okay? This spaghetti had better not be an omen or anything."

"With Ashleigh protectin' me? I'll be fine!"

"Ah, good point. Just make sure you two behave up there!"

Mary looked at her friend blankly. Ashleigh wanted to dissolve into the floor.

("Right. One thing at a time.") Lilian muttered to herself.

"We'll have a great time! We can even play I Spy." Mary grinned. "And save the Outlands, of course."

"Priorities, Mary." Ashleigh said lightly. "But if you start naming individual stars as I Spy prompts, I will throw myself our the airlock."

Mary rolled her eyes. "Quitter. Half of 'em start with numbers, anyway!"

"Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?!"

Lilian glanced at her watch. "I really hate to cut this short, but I've got some last calls to make before the launch tomorrow morning. Thanks for the spaghetti, Mary, it was lovely. I guess I'll see you both at six tomorrow?"

"Ah, it was lovely to see ye, Lil. Have a good night- dinnae let them keep you too late, either!"

"I'll try- you know how these people like to talk."

"Good luck." Ashleigh added.

"Night, Auntie Lilian!"

"Goodnight, Newton! I'll see you after the launch."

She waved hurriedly to everyone and quickly walked to the door.

"Do you think we should check the ship again before tomorrow morning?" Ashleigh asked, and Mary nodded instantly.

"Och, good idea! We might as well."

"Can I go? I wanna see the spaceship!"

"Hmm..." Mary looked at her own watch, and then back at Newton. Clearly, Newton won, as she folded her arms and sighed. "Alright. But brush yer teeth first!"

"What?!"

"Yer gonna be too tired when we come back. Go on- unless you'd prefer to go straight to bed?"

Newton scampered out of the room faster than the prowlers that he was fond of impersonating.

"Works every time." Mary laughed. "I remember hating bedtime at his age."

Newton sped back by the time Ashleigh had put her boots on.

"All done!"

"Mouthwash as well?"

"Yep!"

"Alrighty." Mary opened the door, handing Newton his coat as she did so. "Just a quick trip."

They launched in just over thirteen hours. For some reason, even now Ashleigh still couldn't dispel the feeling of dread that that statistic brought.

Chapter Text

"Wow!! It's sooo big!"

Newton's eyes were practically on stalks as he took in the interior of the ship. Ashleigh had by this point been in the ship a few times, but she had to admit- she was still impressed.

Aside from the cockpit (where a second seat had been hastily installed just behind Mary's), the rest of the ship consisted of all the expected facilities, as well as sleeping quarters (just the one), a viewing deck, and a very large room that currently housed the shuttle that Mary would pilot out to the edge of 2427-SR in order to collect the first branthium sample.

"Can we go inside?" Newton asked, pointing at the shuttle.

"We'd better! This is the most important part of the whole mission." Mary said, reaching out to pat the side of the shuttle as if it was some large, friendly animal.

"Cool!"

Ashleigh had to wonder if Lilian's consideration of colour preference extended to the ship and shuttle itself: the interior accents were all Mary's favourite shade of turquoise.

As they stepped inside, she saw a metal rectangle laying on the console: her tablet! She scooped it up and checked the battery- still good. Energy saving technology had become very prevalent on Olympus in the last few years, but from what Ashleigh had heard, it hadn't caught on elsewhere as much.

Newton hopped straight onto the chair, producing a toy telescope that he'd been given for his sixth birthday.

"Where's the 'go' button?"

Mary leaned on the chair behind him, turning round from where she'd been inspecting the screens that lined the walls.

"Well, there isn't one, really. The shuttle's attached to the main ship by a tether, and that's what'll be doing all the flyin'."

"Ohh."

Seemingly unphased by this, Newton proceeded to make his approximation of 'spaceship noises'.

Ashleigh swiped through the ship's diagnostics on her tablet- everything seemed to be in order, down to the finest detail.

"How's it lookin' back there?" Mary called to the scientist who was doing work on the screens by the back window.

"All good, from what I can see." He responded, still tapping away.

"Perfect. Thanks."

Ashleigh glanced up from her tablet as Mary turned to her.

"Alrighty, ready to go?"

"Maybe you should ask Newton." She nodded to where he was still pretending to pilot the shuttle, once again completely in his own little world. (The habit was considerably more endearing when one wasn't in an environment that required constant alert.)

Mary crouched down next to the chair so her head was level with his. Newton swivelled his head so that he was looking directly at her through his telescope.

He giggled. "Mum! Your eye's ginormous!"

"That's a big word!"

"A ginormous word." He corrected her, grinning in a way that looked almost identical to Mary whenever she was right.

"Aye. That." Mary settled into a more comfortable position next to the chair. "Ready to pilot us all the way to bedtime, Captain Somers?"

Newton put down his telescope indignantly. "Bedtime? No! Not yet!"

Mary glanced back at Ashleigh despairingly, who decided to come to her rescue.

She cleared her throat. "Perhaps we can do the preflight checklist first, Captain?"

"Yes please!" Newton grinned, settling back sideways into the chair so that one of the arm rests functioned as a pillow.

Mary gave her a grateful smile and turned back to face him.

"Ah well, I suppose we can do that. Have ya brushed yer wee teeth?"

He gave her a wide, toothy smile. "Yup! See?"

"Just checkin'- very sparkly!"

"Do you have all your equipment?" Ashleigh added.

"Check!"

"And d'ya have enough hugs for the trip?" Mary asked.

Newton shook his head. "No- more please!"

Mary laughed, hugging him quickly. He yawned suddenly and tried to cover it with his hand. It did not escape Mary's notice.

"Aww... are we super-duper tired, m'boy?"

"Nope!" Newton yawned again. "You have the coolest job, Mum."

"Aye, I do." Mary glanced at her watch. "Any last requests, Captain?"

He hesitated. "Hmm..."

Ashleigh couldn't resist. "A hot chocolate, perhaps?"

"Oh- he's just brushed his-" Mary turned to glare at her, though Ashleigh suspected it was partially to hide her smile from Newton. "-don't listen to her, Newtie! Aunty Ash is being devilish again!"

Ashleigh was glad that Mary was no longer facing her. That name was a new one- she'd never before imagined that she'd be called 'Aunty'.

Newton asked for a song, and Mary was more than happy to oblige. Between that and her new nickname, Ashleigh couldn't do much more but stare at her tablet and quadruple check the ship's status- s omething flashed red behind her. Her tablet followed suit a second after. She spun around to stare at the scientist- Mary cut off her song and did the same. He shrugged at them apologetically.

"We launch in thirteen bloody hours, dears!" Ashleigh noticed that she was gripping the edge of the chair. "Honestly, what are they teaching in PhD programs these days?"

"It's okay, Mum." Newton piped up- Mary had not moved from her position beside the chair. "Go make the ship safe... so you come home."

She stood up slowly. "Oh, Newton-"

"We can sing the song together when you get back! The kingdom needs a hero, remember?"

"Aye. And a hero needs something to come back to, my boy." She kissed him quickly on the forehead and approached the scientist- who by this point had given up trying to figure out what was wrong with the console altogether.

"Do you need me to help with anything?" Ashleigh asked.

"Er... could ye just keep an eye on Newtie? We need to go look at the main ship."

"Of course."

"Oh, and could I borrow yer tablet?"

Ashleigh handed it over and went to stand next to where Newton was playing with his telescope in the chair again.

"Good luck."

"We won't be long! Hopefully."

After a few minutes, she felt Newton's eyes on her.

"Hey, Doctor Reid?"

"Yes?"

"Are you really gonna leave after you and Mum get the branthium?"

"How... do you know about that?"

"I heard Mum and Auntie Lilian talking about it the other day. But I don't want you to leave! I want you to live here with us forever."

"That... would be nice." Ashleigh agreed hesitantly. "You know that when I first started working for your mom, it was because she needed more help with her work while raising you on her own. Then she asked me if I wanted to keep working for her when she was invited to move to Olympus- and we agreed that I'd stay for as long as she needed me to."

Newton wrinkled his eyebrows together. "So you're leaving because she's not gonna need you anymore?"

"We haven't talked about it in a while, but that's been the plan so far." Ashleigh shrugged. How did Newton have a knack for always asking her about the things that she really didn't want to talk about?

"Besides: Lilian needs to pay every scientist working on this project, as well as all their equipment, research, and trips like this one. She's going to hire more people who are right for the job soon, and I'm not one of those people."

"Why not?"

"Your mother is an astrophysicist; but my specialty is actually phase science. There's a lot of overlap between the two but outside of being her assistant, there's not much I can offer to this project."

"Ohhh." He slumped down further into the chair.

"What is it?"

"I just don't want you to leave." He said again.

Ashleigh sighed. "To be honest, Newton... I don't want to leave either."

"Then don't!" He said, turning towards her. "You can just ask Auntie Lilian really really nicely and she'll let you stay!"

"That's not how it works, I'm afraid."

"Why not? She's your friend!"

"Still probably not how it works.... but I'll think about it!" She added hurriedly, noticing his expression. "I'll definitely think about it."

"Okay. Good."

She nodded as another thought struck her. "By the way, you don't have to call me Doctor Reid all the time. Ashleigh is fine. Or... Aunty Ash, if that's what you want."

"Nah." He shook his head. "That's too weird."

"Weird?"

"Yeah! I don't call Mum her real name." He said, as if that explained everything.

"Right..."

He opened his mouth- but instead of explaining his logic, he let out a massive yawn. "D'you think Mum's gonna come back soon?"

"Hard to tell." Ashleigh said truthfully. "Do you want me to call her and ask if I can take you home?"

"I wanna wait. I'm not that tired."

"Fair enough." She leaned against the console and instinctively reached for her tablet, before remembering where it was.

Some time passed before Ashleigh realised Newton was being unusually quiet- she looked over and realised he'd fallen asleep. Mary had been gone for half an hour.

Her conversation with Newton made her painfully aware that she still had no idea how she was going to manage to stay on the Project. Could she ask? Would Mary let her?

It wouldn't be that easy- she'd never had the privilege of being lucky.

The doors to the shuttle opened- Mary was back, but she was alone.

"Sorry it took so long! We just had to make extra sure. Cannae afford to mess up at this point." She smiled nervously.

"No problem." Ashleigh smiled back. (She was glad that the other scientist had presumably left.)

Mary's gaze fell on Newton, sleeping. "Oh, Newtie..." He opened his eyes blearily. "I am sorry, petal. Let's get ye home."

Mary carried Newton on her shoulders as they walked back to her apartment.

"Guess I'll see you tomorrow morning." Ashleigh said, as Mary loitered in the doorway.

"Aye. Unless... you'd like to stay for a bit? I doubt I'll be gettin' any sleep for a while."

"Oh... that'd be nice, actually." Ashleigh said. "I'm not tired either."

"Alright, then." Mary moved to allow her to step inside. "I'll put the kettle on after I put Newtie to bed."

"Thanks."

Ashleigh sat down on Mary's sofa, catching snippets of conversation from Newton's room.

("Do you promise?" "Aye, my love.")

Mary came back into the living room a few minutes later, once again sitting down right next to her.

"Twelve hours, now." Ashleigh said.

"Mhm." Mary replied, stifling a yawn. "So close..."

Before Ashleigh could say anything else, she felt a sudden weight on her shoulder, followed by heavy snoring. She'd known that Mary's sleep schedule had been worse than usual (despite her best efforts), but it had barely gone eight.

At least she was sleeping.

Ashleigh could feel her own eyelids growing heavier, and she just about had the foresight (and free left arm) to set an alarm on her watch for 5:30 before she drifted off as well.

Chapter Text

Ashleigh's eyes snapped open to the sharp beeping of her watch. For a moment she was extremely confused as to why she was on a sofa, pressed up against the arm rest, until it came back to her.

"Mary." She muttered, her voice still groggy from sleep. "We have to go."

Ashleigh knew that she tended to stay extremely still when she slept, but Mary appeared to be the total opposite. Not only had she somehow moved herself in her sleep to lie horizontally across the sofa with her head resting on Ashleigh's shoulder, but at some point during the night she'd also sprawled one arm over the top of the sofa, and another over Ashleigh herself.

"Mmhrmmgh...?"

"The launch. Space. Half an hour."

"AH." Mary tried to sit bolt upright, but clearly hadn't adjusted to her weird sleeping position so she ended up rolling onto the floor. Ashleigh held out a hand to help her up.

"Thanks, dear. Let's not keep Lil waitin'- I bet her schedule is packed today."

"Of course."

Olympus was still dark and eerily silent as they headed over to the launch site. Ashleigh almost wished that she'd brought a coat, but she was still wearing the clothes that she'd slept in.

"Good morning, you two!"

Lilian was evidently a morning person, as she stood before them immaculately dressed.

"Are you both ready? And, um, awake?"

"Aye to both those things." Mary said, giving a slightly shaky thumbs up.

"Perfect. Well, your space suits are already in the ship, so I'll let you two get on with that for a second. Meet me back out here when you're ready."

The structure that the ship was attached to allowed it to be levered down horizontally for easier access before the launch.

Ashleigh stared directly at the wall, just as she had whenever she had to get changed for sports during her short-lived high school stint, as she put on her suit. It was surprisingly heavy- a lot heavier than Pilot gear, and obviously not built with any sort of combat in mind.

"All done, dear?" Mary asked from the corner of the room after an extremely long silence.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yep."

They headed back without a further word.

"So, do you both-" Lilian was cut off by the immense creaking sound of the mechanism securing the ship into an upright position. "Let's go inside."

She continued after they'd closed the doors to the control room. "Do you both know the plan? And the route?"

They both nodded.

"Okay. What about supplies? Do you have extra food packs?"

"We packed those yesterday. Main ship and shuttle." Ashleigh replied.

"Perfect. Oh, what else..."

Mary put a gloved hand on her shoulder. "We'll be fine, Lil. We've quintuple checked every last detail."

"I know, I know. But please, be careful. If anything seems wrong-"

"-Come straight home." Mary finished. "I ken."

Lilian pulled her into a very tight hug, as if she was trying to keep her from leaving for as long as possible.

After what seemed like an age, she pulled away from her and turned to Ashleigh. The latter preemptively stuck out a hand for a nice, formal handshake. Lilian took it, and after a few seconds, pulled her into a (far briefer) hug as well.

"Make sure you both come home safely." She said. "And good luck!"

Mary glanced towards the door. "We'd best be off."

"Alright. See you two in a few days- take care!"

"Bye, Lil!"

"We'll check in when we can." Ashleigh added, and then they left.

Mary took a deep breath, surveying the control console in front of them both.

"Just like we practiced." She said, waving at Ashleigh behind her as she was unable to turn around.

"Right." Ashleigh said. "I'm waving back at you, by the way."

She smiled as she heard Mary chuckle at her last remark.

'TEN...'

A computerised voice began the countdown.

'SEVEN....'

Ashleigh ran through the parts of the console that had been delegated to her in her mind.

'FOUR...'

She thought she could hear her heart beating, but it was just Mary's boot hitting against the cockpit floor as she tapped it nervously.

'THREE....'

"Ready, darlin'?"

'TWO...'

"Ready."

'ONE...'

She saw Mary in front of her flinch as the rocket launched. Though, interestingly, she seemed to relax more as Psamathe disappeared beneath them.

Before long, they'd left the atmosphere.

"Ladies and... actually just ladies," Mary said with more energy than Ashleigh had heard from her in weeks, "welcome to outer space!"

Chapter Text

Shedding her space suit for her lab dress after the initial ascent had been an unexpected relief. Ashleigh sipped the coffee that she'd made herself to pass the time until Mary returned from her sleeping shift at the table by the ship's kitchenette. (She'd never seen a ship with one of those before.) Even the table looked oddly like the one in Mary's apartment- if the one in her apartment was made of steel and bolted to the floor. Though she'd never had a problem with being alone before, something about the ship put her on edge while Mary was not present. It struck her that she hadn't been on her own without Mary for this long in a while.

Now that their course was on track for the black hole, the piloting itself took minimum input: mostly just manually activating the jump drives every time the engine recharged. The rest of the time was theirs to kill (or not kill).

She looked up as the door slid open. Mary carried her heavily stickered laptop under her arm as she walked in, and 'just rolled out of bed' was the most accurate description for her current state.

"Mornin', dear!"

Ashleigh checked her watch to hide her smile. "It's six-thirty PM on Olympus right now, actually."

"Psh." Mary waved her free hand. "Same difference. How's the trip been?"

"On track. I made the two scheduled jumps, so if we keep going the way we're going we should make it there in two more days, minimum."

"Brilliant!" Mary smiled, and then looked down at her laptop, sighing. "Two more days, though... I should've brought some knitting or somethin'."

"You knit?"

"Well... I could've learned on this trip."

Mary sat down opposite to her on the table. It was unclear why there were multiple stools bolted around it in the first place- eight in total, far more than either of them needed. Perhaps Lilian had wanted to give Mary a choice of seating position?

"Want me to make you a coffee or something?" Ashleigh asked, as she'd launched straight into opening her laptop.

Mary shook her head.

"Are you sure? You're working already?" Ashleigh asked, gesturing towards the laptop.

"I'm tryin'..."

"Haven't you done enough already? You've barely woken up- you're just going to tire yourself out." This was not the first time that Ashleigh had asked her this, and she highly doubted it would be the last.

"I have to do something!"

"I think you need a break. Or some food, at least."

Mary pressed her lips into a thin line and stared at her laptop again.

"Come on..." Ashleigh said encouragingly. "Didn't you want to play I Spy?"

Mary laughed. "Coming from my assistant, that's an awful idea. Comin' from my friend, however..."

She stood up from the table; Ashleigh did the same. She didn't need a mirror to know that her face was burning and she was smiling idiotically again. (Mary must've thought that she looked so stupid.)

They wandered over to the viewing deck. The artificial gravity on the ship was a little lower than on Psamathe, and Ashleigh's hair floated very slightly as she walked. Mary's was all over the place, of course- Ashleigh resisted the urge to reach over and brush it out of her eyes.

"I spy..." Mary began, squinting into the distance, "with my little eye....... something beginnin' with D!"

All Ashleigh could see was darkness, lit by stars. Still, she decided to take a stab at it.

"D... uh, the... dark vacuum of outer space?"

"Aye!" Mary cheered. "Got it in one."

This did not leave Ashleigh with many options for her turn.

"Right, then... I spy something beginning with S."

"Stars." Mary said instantly.

"That's it. I feel like we should've done this in an area with more variety."

"True... or, I could always start namin' individual stars!"

"Please don't."

Mary folded her arms, considering her next move. "I spy with my little eye... somethin' beginning with T."

"T?" Ashleigh looked through the window helplessly: still nothing but stars suspended in the void. Definitely nothing that began with T. Unless... it wasn't through the window? "T... is it the tether control panel?"

"Yes!" Mary laughed. "I knew you'd get there."

Now Ashleigh was seriously running out of things to spy.

"I spy... something beginning with W."

"Hmm." Mary looked around the interior of the ship. "Ooh! Wall?"

"Correct." Ashleigh lied. (She had actually meant window, but Mary didn't need to know that.)

"Alrighty, what else..." Mary looked around, but Ashleigh's tablet beeped sharply before she could continue the game further. "Och- that must mean its time for yer sleep shift, dear."

"Already?" Ashleigh frowned at her tablet, but that was indeed what the alarm was labelled as. She wasn't completely surprised, just disappointed- time was difficult to keep track of when you were completely surrounded by darkness.

Mary nodded. "Make sure to strap yerself in- I'll be jumping while you're asleep, so the gravity will be off. Hey, maybe we'll be in a better place for I Spy after ye wake up?"

"I hope so." Ashleigh tried to match her smile.

"Have a good sleep, darlin'."

"Thanks. Don't forget to eat something."

"Will do!"

Ashleigh wanted to linger around for as long as possible, but the entire mission depended on a strict time schedule- made even more precise by the last-minute addition of Ashleigh herself. At least she had the comfort that her time with Mary in the long run was now far less limited than it almost had been.

The sleeping quarters consisted of a single bunk with an attached mattress, and a bright orange sleeping bag. Mary's hairbrush and the sci fi novel she had been reading were still in the small storage cube beside the bunk, but it wasn't as if Ashleigh had taken much with her anyway.

After making sure the door was locked, she removed her dress, gloves, and boots. The only place to put them was in a narrow container next to the cube that looked like a cross between a wardrobe and the cage she took Prowler to the Vet's in. Mary's pyjamas were already inside- she snorted to herself as she saw the silly space pattern that they were covered in.

Ashleigh put on the old t-shirt and soft shorts that she'd retrieved from the storage lockers on her way. She only removed her long socks after she'd already climbed into the bunk- as she'd already learned how freezing the ship's shiny floors were, and frostbite would hinder her overall mission somewhat.

This wasn't her first time sleeping in an environment with no gravity, but she still felt hesitant as she wriggled into the sleeping bag and secured the straps around the bunk. That was it- the room was soundproof. She'd never lived anywhere so quiet before Olympus, and now she couldn't even hear the ship's engines. It was all wrong. And though she knew exactly what would help her nerves, she couldn't give into her weaknesses so easily. Forget about the mission schedule- Mary could never see her like this.

She lay there with her eyes closed. Her tablet's alarm beeped, so she must've eventually fallen asleep, which was some relief at least.

Why was there a mirror in here? Ashleigh averted her eyes as she got dressed. Maybe the sleeping arrangement was a mercy after all- as Mary would inevitably ask questions about the scars on her body that she'd built her entire wardrobe around hiding, and then she might as well just tell her everything right then and there. (Which she was not going to do, Ashleigh reminded herself. That was not an option.)

The next two days functioned in much of the same way: a long stretch of hours in which the two of them alternated between working, trying to work, and giving in and watching one of the films that Mary had downloaded on her laptop. Then one of them would sleep, followed by the other, and the cycle would repeat again.

I could get used to this. Ashleigh realised, as she rehydrated a food packet that was meant to give the two of them the same nutrients as a bowl of vegetables. Then she nearly dropped the bowl as Mary said:

"It'll be so odd now when we go back. Fancy just... movin' in with us? It's so lovely having ye around more!"

It was a joke. She didn't mean it, obviously. And she definitely wasn't a mind reader. Ashleigh reminded herself of these facts before she turned around.

"Well... your couch is comfortable, but I think I'd prefer to sleep on an actual mattress." She said, with (in her opinion) a very impressive attempt at casualness.

"Fair enough." Mary smiled as Ashleigh placed the bowl of almost-vegetables on the table that she'd been setting. "Oh, lovely. Thanks."

Ashleigh sat back opposite to her with her own food.

"We're en route to arrive in less than 24 hours."

Mary nodded, but her eyes drifted around the room- was something else on her mind?

"Yes... we are! Good."

"Have you been sleeping enough?" Ashleigh squinted at her. "You look more distracted than normal."

"I've been sleepin' fine!" She responded, slightly defensively. "It's just... something I want to talk to ye about."

"Okay? If that's all it is, then talk to me."

It was only after Ashleigh said this that she realised Mary must be planning to let her down gently and remind her that her time as her assistant was still limited.

Mary stirred her almost-vegetables around in her plastic bowl.

"Okay. But before I say anythin'... what are ye planning on doin' after we come back?"

"Keeping my end of the agreement, if nothing's changed."

The room suddenly felt far too small.

"Okay- so ye still want to go home? To the Frontier?"

'Home' wasn't how Ashleigh would describe it. More accurately, it was her 'point of origin'. She didn't need a home- she never had. (But wanting was another matter entirely.)

So Ashleigh just shrugged.

"The arrangement was that I'd be your assistant for as long as you needed, even with the unexpected circumstances. There's no point in me remaining on Olympus if I just become an unwanted burden."

Mary seemed to visibly flinch at the last statement.

"What- no! Yer not a burden! Dinnae talk like that!"

"Not a burden, yet." Ashleigh countered. (Why was she doing this? This was counterproductive. She needed Mary to want her to stay, somehow. Nonetheless, she pressed on.) "This project is too important for dead weight," She continued, ignoring Mary shaking her head with increasing frequency like a broken motor. "and there's no reason for you to keep me on if you don't need me anymore."

"But I-" Mary sounded unusually upset at this for some reason. Surely Ashleigh's logic was sound? "Oh my God."

"...What?"

"Ashleigh." Mary looked her dead in the eye. "You think I only like ye 'cause yer my assistant?"

'Like' was an interesting way of phrasing 'value', but...

"...Yes?" Ashleigh replied, now even more confused. What sort of question was that? Wasn't it obvious?

Mary's eyes widened, and she reached over the table to grab Ashleigh's hand where it rested by her bowl.

"Ashleigh." She said again. "I'm so sorry that I've made ye think that- but that's just untrue."

"But... why? I don't have anything else to offer you. All I can do for you is be your assistant."

Mary didn't let go of her hand.

"That's... it's not about what ye do for me at all! Yer a great assistant, yes, but so much more than that to me. I like ye 'cause you're you."

Ashleigh was unsure how to process this revelation- Mary liked her? Her?! Sure, she liked the version of her that Ashleigh put on for the Olympians, but it was still validation that she'd never actually anticipated. Or known that she'd wanted.

"Oh..." Was all that she could say. "...Thank you."

Mary laughed- sadly? "Dinnae thank me, dear; how long have we known each other? Five years? I should've made my feelings clearer long before now."

"It's not your fault. Anyway, you wanted to talk about something?"

"Aye... but we still need to talk about our arrangement first."

There it was. Mary's feelings about her changed nothing- Ashleigh never should've gotten her hopes up.

"Oh- I forgot. Of course."

"So... I ken we agreed that you'd stay on until we got the branthium, but-"

Because time was always against them, the sleep shift alarm on Ashleigh's tablet beeped again.

"Damned rectangle- we'll have to pick this up later." Mary muttered. "It's yer turn for the shift, right?"

Ashleigh found herself surprisingly relieved at the intervention staving off the inevitable.

"Technically..." She flipped it over to look at the screen and frowned. "But since we won't have time for another shift before we arrive, you should take this one."

"What? But I took the last one!"

"I know. But I won't be the one going out in a shuttle to retrieve some branthium from the edge of a black hole in..." She checked her watch, "...approximately ten hours. So go to bed."

Mary frowned. "That's not fair on ya. You take the shift."

"What if I refused?"

"Then, as the lead scientist on this expedition, I will tell ye to follow the schedule and Take. The. Shift."

"And as your friend," Ashleigh countered, unmoved, "I will ask you to go to bed."

"But-"

"I'll be fine. Arguing will just waste more time."

"...Fine." Mary sighed. "But take care of yerself, okay? I dinnae want ye to push yourself too hard for my sake."

"Of course."

Mary smiled almost apologetically as she left Ashleigh alone at the table.

"Two more jumps, remember?" She called back to her.

"Of course. See you when you wake up."

"'Kay! Love ya, darlin'."

Ashleigh sat there, frozen. The words came so naturally to Mary- love of any kind seemed like the easiest thing in the world for her.

But there was no time to think about that. She had a job to do now.

The cockpit console was so clearly laid out that Ashleigh could've operated it even without training. This didn't belittle Mary's own skill as a (ship) pilot in any way, but it did emphasise to her how straightforward this mission had been designed to be. It seemed as if between the two of them, Lilian and Mary really had planned it all to the nth degree.

With a single button, she switched off the artificial gravity within the ship. With another, she activated the jump drive, setting the course to almost a straight line in front of them as far as the engine would allow. Even with the reduced strain on the engine, the ship wouldn't be able to jump again for three more hours. So Ashleigh had to find something to do until then.

The ship was equipped with railings for this very situation, and Ashleigh clung to them as she moved to the viewing deck. There was almost nothing that she hated more than being in low gravity. It was unpredictable in all the same ways being underwater was- she needed full control of her movement to feel secure.

Just like she had a few days ago, Ashleigh peered out of the large window, trying to catch a glimpse of anything new. And... there on the horizon was a tiny pinprick, unmistakably yellow against the countless white stars.

Ashleigh looked at her tablet for confirmation- yes. There is was.

"I spy with my little eye," she whispered to herself, "something beginning with T... or the number two, technically."

Watching it approach was like watching paint dry, but nonetheless the pinprick gradually grew in size. Ashleigh was completely transfixed.

Five hours and another jump later, Mary emerged from the sleeping quarters.

"How are ye holding up?" Was the first thing she asked.

"Fine. You have got to see this!"

Mary laughed as she followed her back to the viewing deck. "I dinnae think I've ever seen ye so excited! What's th-"

Her face was priceless- Ashleigh couldn't look away.

"2427-SR- she's beautiful..."

"She is." Ashleigh agreed, still not moving her eyes.

"Well! There's no time to waste." Mary said suddenly, snapping into business mode. "Let's get the systems ready- we've got some branthium to find!"

Chapter Text

"We should be all ready to go now!"

The two hours since they'd reached 2427-SR had flown by. Mary- now back in her spacesuit- stood beside Ashleigh on the viewing deck, with her drone floating nearby.

"How are you feeling?" Ashleigh asked her.

"Great!"

If she wasn't fidgeting with her pen and shifting slightly on her heels (even with the suit's heavy boots), Ashleigh would've almost believed her.

"You don't have to pretend not to be nervous. I would be too, in your position."

That was completely untrue, of course, but it did seem to ease Mary's nerves a little.

They turned to face each other, the soft glow from the black hole's accretion disk  outside illuminating Mary's hair.

"Besides," Ashleigh continued, "you have a promise to keep, remember?"

Mary smiled at her. "Aye. I do. Thanks, dear."

They both stood there for a moment longer, completely silent. In another lifetime, Ashleigh might have filled the silence with a word or an action due to the knowledge that she would never get another chance to do so. But not this time.

"Well... no time like the present!" Mary said finally, stepping back. "Be right back, darlin'!"

"Do you want me to walk you down to the shuttle?"

"Ah, I'll be alright. Just keep an eye on everything up here for me, okay?"

"Of course. Good luck!"

Mary hesitated, briefly, and then left the room. Ashleigh went to retrieve her tablet and checked through the status of the systems. Everything was fine. They'd prepared for this. Nothing would go wrong- she would make sure of that.

She looked out through the window as the shuttle floated out towards 2427-SR. If she squinted, she could just about see Mary moving around, but she was eclipsed by the massive black hole behind her. She just looked so fragile- like one could crush the shuttle as easily as an insect, with her inside of it.

"Testing- can ye hear me, dearie? Ooh- that rhymes..."

Ashleigh smiled as Mary's voice crackled through the ship's speakers.

"Loud and clear, Mary." She replied.

"Brilliant! I'm just settin' up Newtie now-" (Ashleigh always forgot that she'd carefully crafted her drone's name to acronym perfectly to 'NEWT') "- so I guess we'll just have to see..."

She trailed off into silence. Minutes passed with nothing, not even her customary soft humming.

"Uh, let me know how it goes?" Ashleigh said hesitantly- no news was good news, right? Unless something had failed-

"GOT IT!" Mary cheered suddenly, with such force that Ashleigh almost dropped her tablet. "We actually- och, just look at it- Ashleigh?"

"Yes?!"

"I'm sendin' it over now. I cannae believe it... ah, so can ye-"

"-Prepare to accept the transfer?" Ashleigh cut in.  "Already done."

"Brilliant! I'll get ready to head back in."

As she spoke, a blue light travelled through the tether into the ship.

'Branthium transfer: complete.' A robotic voice intoned from somewhere behind her.

Now for the final step of the plan. The tether control panel was situated right by the window of the viewing deck. And just like every other piece of machinery on the ship, it had been designed to be ridiculously easy to use.

One tap confirmed the ship's tether retraction mechanism. Another would disconnect the tether altogether- for maintenance... or attempted murder.

Ashleigh stared into the void, considering her future. She couldn't throw away her entire career. Even sparing Mary now didn't mean Ashleigh would always be able to protect her- her mission always had to come first. Nothing would change that. Sooner or later, she'd inevitably have to leave.

Why not just bite the bullet now? A voice seemed to say- it sounded a little like one of her superiors. It would be so easy. Don't lie to yourself- you know it'll be harder to leave her the longer you put this off.

Ashleigh looked away from the void, and focused on the bright green control panel.

Is this what she wanted? Was Mary really worth this? Her life could go back on track in a second- all she had to do was hit the button.

A new sound drifted through the speakers: Mary was humming again.

And Ashleigh realised that she never wanted to stop hearing that sound.

The control panel blinked with Mary's retract request a second later, and Ashleigh approved it without a second thought.

"On my way!"

"Great- good job." Ashleigh smiled weakly, stepping back from the panel.

Because that was it. It didn't matter how much she tried to hide it: at the end of the day, she was a mercenary, and there was nothing that would change that fact. She wasn't suited for this life; these people.

But she could pretend to be.

"Ashleigh!" Mary called from behind her as the door slid open.

Why were her footsteps so fast? Ashleigh turned around just as Mary ran at her, enveloping her in her arms so quickly that Ashleigh's nose smashed against the metal collar on Mary's spacesuit.

"Oh! Sorry, dear." Mary pulled away from her to inspect her face. "You alright?"

"Fine." Ashleigh managed, trying to focus on anything except how close Mary's face was to hers at that moment. "Never better."

"Okay! Great!" Mary said quickly, pulling her into a second hug. "I just cannae believe it works! I mean, of course it works, we knew it'd work, but-" She broke off into relieved laughter.

"I- yeah." Her enthusiasm was as infectious as ever. "It works."

She couldn't let herself ruin this moment- there was time to deal with her problems later.

"Alrighty." Mary said eventually, stepping away from the hug. "I'll go fetch the branthium and start us on the way home. You need to sleep."

"I forgot about that- you must be rubbing off on me."

Mary gasped dramatically. "I hope not!"

"I'll get that over with, then." Ashleigh said, trying to hide her disappointment. "See you later."

"Have a good sleep!"

They left in opposite directions.

Mary had left the sleeping quarters in a mess from the last time she'd slept there, so Ashleigh quickly gathered up her items and put them all into the storage cube.

Then she repeated her routine, and finished by swinging into the bunk, removing her current pair of long socks, and strapping herself in.

She stared at the wall- blurrier than other things she'd stared at that day, as she'd already removed her contact lenses.

She'd done it. Or, rather, she hadn't. Everything that she'd been planning for the last three years had just crashed, burned, and been spaghettified inside 2427-SR.

"I can still do this." She said to herself, her voice echoing around the soundproof room. "I can still make this work. I will make it work."

Then she closed her eyes.

Her alarm beeped sharply- Ashleigh almost sat bolt upright but was caught by the restraints around the bunk. She hated those things.

She got dressed- still avoiding the mirror- and walked to the living space, which is where Mary spent most of her time on the ship.

But when she got there, the lights were off, the room was empty, and the ship was silent.

Ashleigh tried to contact Mary through the ship's intercom, before realising she'd left her tablet back in the sleeping quarters. Maybe she was on the viewing deck?

She was not on the viewing deck. But something about it made Ashleigh pause in her search: the light.

The whole deck was cast in a red light- and it was coming from the tether control panel.

Ashleigh walked over to it, her steps echoing far too loud in the silent ship. Then- crunch. She'd walked over something. And she recognised what it was instantly as she leaned down to pick it up: an earpiece. Specifically, the exact type of earpiece that the Apex Predators use- Ashleigh knew this because she had several pairs of her own, stashed around her apartment back on Olympus.

"How did this get here?" She muttered. And it had been crushed- these things were too durable to be broken just by her accidentally stepping on one.

Ashleigh looked back at the panel, and then to the tablet in her hand, and her worst fears were confirmed.

"Mary?" She called on the intercom to the shuttle. "Mary?!"

No response.

But there was only one reason why the shuttle would be out there, detached, trapped in 2427-SR. And that reason was simply that she'd failed. The sound of water roared in her ears, and-

Ashleigh's eyes snapped open, and she was suddenly very thankful for the soundproof room because she had a horrible feeling that she'd screamed at least once during that nightmare. Because that's all it was: a nightmare. Not real. Not a reason for her breath to still be shaky as she got dressed, and definitely not a reason for her to contact Mary through the intercom before even leaving the room.

"Mary- how's the journey gone?"

"Smooth sailing so far! Did ya sleep well?"

Ashleigh leaned back against the wall and sighed in relief as her voice rang through the room.

"Yeah. Thanks." She lied. "I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay! I'll get some tea brewin'."

"Alright."

It was pathetic: of course Mary wasn't dead. That was a dream. It hadn't happened, and she was just wasting time still thinking about it.

As she'd expected, Mary was at the table in the living space, typing away at her laptop. The branthium sample was on the table next to her, encased in a glass cylinder.

"Hey." She said as she entered.

"Oh, mornin'!"

"...still not the morning." Ashleigh said, checking her watch again. She sat down opposite her again, resting her arms onto the table.

Mary snorted and rolled her eyes. "Anyway. Tea's almost ready, and we're two jumps closer to home."

"Great."

Ashleigh's face grew warm as she realised Mary was studying her closely.

"Are ye... okay, dear?"

"Me? I'm fine." She said quickly. "Why do you ask?"

"Uh..." Mary fidgeted with her hands, not meeting her eyes. "Systems said there were unusual noise levels comin' from the sleeping quarters while ye were in there. Obviously I didnae actually hear anything, but... apparently that's a thing the ship does. Safety reasons, I guess."

"Oh."

"Its okay if you dinnae want to talk about it, but... if ye do-"

"I just had a bad dream." Ashleigh said quickly.

"And it made ye scream? Has this happened before?"

She shrugged. "It's really not a big deal."

"Oh... if yer sure...?" Mary got up to prepare the tea.

"Anyway. Tell me about the branthium!" Ashleigh gestured to the container on the table.

Mary shot her a not-so-subtly concerned glance before focusing on the subject of her research. "Well! I've just been documentin' the collection process- this ship isn't equipped to allow me to study it in any real detail. But, I'm also tryin' to figure out a way to let us gather more branthium in one go for our next trip- this was just the test run, of course."

"Of course. That makes sense."

Mary poured the tea into two metal mugs.

"Lil said she's lookin' for some geologists for the project right now, though, so we'll be gettin' a lot more information on it soon!"

"Sounds great. Rocks aren't... exactly my forte." Ashleigh laughed, grateful that Mary had let her change the subject so easily.

She placed the mugs down on the table with a clatter.

"I think..." Mary said, searching through the packets in the cupboards. "...we should have some sugar left- aha!" She held the packet of sugar cubes triumphantly. "Five- that's perfect!"

Mary dropped two into her mug and passed the bag to Ashleigh, who tipped the remaining contents into her own.

"Thank you." She smiled, meaning it in far more ways than Mary would realise.

A few days later, Ashleigh sat back behind Mary in the cockpit.

"Almost..." Mary murmured. "And... we're in range!"

Ashleigh dutifully hit the switch that put them through to Olympus, and the connection went through instantly.

"Mary? Ashleigh?" Lilian called. "Can You Two Hear Me?" She spoke slowly and overly clearly, as if she was trying to communicate with them from the other side of a chasm.

"We can hear ya just fine, Lil!" Mary laughed. "It is so good to hear yer voice again."

"It's great to hear your voice, too!" Lilian said, in a more normal tone for her. "Is Ashleigh there?"

"I am. Hello, Lilian."

"Hi! Oh, It's been so quiet without you two around."

"How's Newton?" Mary asked, leaning forwards in her chair.

"Good as gold! Missing you both terribly though, of course."

"I cannae wait to get home." Ashleigh didn't have to see Mary to know she was smiling as she spoke.

"How far away are you? Do you know when you'll be back?"

"All being well, we'll be landin' in about six hours. We've made our last jump, by the way."

"Okay, lovely! I'll see you two then. Take care!"

"Bye, Lil!"

"See you soon." Ashleigh added.

"Six hours..." Mary mused after the call ended. "We may as well be back on Olympus already!"

"It'll be great to be home." Ashleigh agreed.

Chapter Text

Ashleigh could hear the commotion before she'd even left the ship. She removed her helmet, quickly smoothing down her hair as Mary opened the door that separated them from the rest of Olympus.

She blinked as a sharp ray of sunlight hit her eyes- the tiniest hiss from Mary in front of her told her that she was having a similar reaction to the sudden light.

Now that the doors were open and her eyes had adjusted, Ashleigh could properly assess the situation before her.

A crowd of people stood in front of them: some scientists that Ashleigh vaguely recognised; reporters with cameras and tablets; and most importantly, Lilian and Newton, whose faces both lit up the minute she and Mary stepped out of the ship. Newton held a large paper sign covered with glitter that shone in the sunlight- it read 'WELCOME HOME MUM AND DOCTOR REID'.

"Newtie!" Mary cried, as she rushed forwards towards him- completely ignoring the reporters lining up to interview her- and scooped him up into a hug so tight that any onlooker might've thought they'd been separated for decades.

Lilian stepped forwards to join the hug, and Mary turned her head back to look at Ashleigh, eyes sparkling. Her message was clear.

So Ashleigh joined them too.

"Now, you'll both have to tell us everything this evening." Lilian said eventually, breaking off the hug. "For now, I think there's some people that want to talk to you two."

Considering the reporters were visibly getting more impatient waiting for the sentimental moment to be over, this was most likely a good move.

"Aww, I wanna talk to Mum!" Newton said indignantly, folding his arms.

Mary sighed. "It'll be quick, Newtie. I promise, ye can tell me all about what you and Auntie Lilian got up to in just a minute."

"Okay..."

"How was Prowler, by the way?" Ashleigh asked him quickly- evidently, the reporters were only interested in Mary, as they swarmed her as soon as she stepped away from her family. (Not that Ashleigh was complaining- the spotlight was the last thing she felt like at this moment.)

"He was so good! I gave him so many treats and we watched telly together, and Auntie Lilian let him go on the sofa and he went to sleep under a cushion!"

"Not the couch cushions, I hope?"

"No, just the ones on top." He clarified.

"Ah, good. In that case, thank you for taking such good care of him. I'm sure he had a great time!"

"He did!" Newton beamed. "He told me."

Ashleigh raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"M-hm!"

"He also said he missed you lots so I kept saying to him that you had to be away 'cause you were saving the Outlands with Mum. And then he said okay."

Ashleigh nodded. "Well, I missed him too."

She realised one of the reporters who had been interviewing Mary was looking at her.

"Doctor... Reid, was it?" She asked.

"That's right." Ashleigh just hoped her hair hadn't been too messed up by her helmet.

"And you're Somers'... assistant?"

"Correct."

"Mind if I ask you a few questions for this article?"

"Of course."

Mary gave her a grateful smile and went to rejoin Newton. Ashleigh swapped places with her to stand by the reporter.

"So, firstly, how long have you been working as Somers' assistant?"

"About five years, now." Ashleigh said instantly.

"So, that's before she learned about the potential energy crisis?"

She said 'potential energy crisis' in the same tone one might say 'fairies at the bottom of the garden'. Ashleigh tried very hard to keep a neutral expression.

"Correct. I was originally hired as her assistant to help her with her workload after her son was born. Though, of course, there had been talk of an energy crisis already by the time I'd been hired- it was only confirmed a year or so afterwards."

The reporter smiled, nodded, and then carried on as if she hadn't heard her.

"And how would you describe your relationship now? Do you intend to keep working on this project for the foreseeable future?"

Ashleigh paused, considering her response. "Well... she's an excellent physicist, and a pleasure to work with. And as far as working on the project goes, I'll stay for as long as I'm needed."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone wearing the same badge as the reporter filming the interview. She wondered how she must look, if any of her superiors were watching. More like a domesticated housecat than an Apex Predator.

"And what about you?" The reporter asked. "Do you have any personal reasons for undertaking this project?"

"Just the same reasons anyone would have:" Ashleigh replied. "Averting the energy crisis."

"I see. Well, that should be all- thank you for your time!"

Ashleigh nodded politely as the reporter walked off- and rolled her eyes at the back of her retreating head. Even someone who couldn't give a single flying fuck about the Outlands such as herself could recognise that the energy crisis was, in fact, real. How could these people just pretend it wasn't happening? It almost made her wonder why she even bothered.

Thankfully, the reporters seemed to be finished. Ashleigh rejoined the others- Newton seemed to be recounting his epic exploits from the last few days, and Mary was giving him her absolute undivided attention.

"So! The plan is, dear-" Mary said to her after Newton was done, "we take a second to get our bearings, and then have a nice proper catch-up at Lil's. My Mum's travellin' over from planetside right now, so she'll be joining us, too!"

"Sounds perfect." Ashleigh smiled.

"Oh! I'll fetch Prowler for you, too." Lilian said. "I'm sure you missed him terribly."

"Thank you. Is he at yours?"

"Yes- we can go and grab him now."

"See you both later!" Mary grinned. Newton clung to her leg as if she'd start floating off any second. "Come on, Newtie."

One quick trip to Lilian's house later, Ashleigh stood with Prowler's travel cage safely in her arms.

"Thanks again." She said to Lilian, who just smiled.

"My pleasure. Don't forget- six o'clock!"

"Alright. See you then."

Ashleigh went straight to her room with her bag and Prowler as soon as she got back to her apartment. She sat on the bed and exhaled heavily.

After freeing Prowler, she retrieved her phone and rang the Predators.

The call went through quickly.

"No need to tell me how the trip went, Reid- I saw the news."

"Great. This call won't take long, then."

"Just two things." (Two?) "First- do you have a secure position in the project?"

Well, no, but she couldn't say that. She knew that failure wasn't an option on this mission.

"Of course."

It wasn't a complete lie. The day wasn't over yet- she still had time to fix this. Mary liked her, and Mary was unusually sentimental for a scientist. She could use those factors to her advantage yet.

"Oh- really? From your answers in the interview, it seemed like you weren't sure. Good work."

"And the other thing?" She asked, impatient. Prowler settled down on her shoulder. She stroked his back, grateful for the reassurance.

"Right. I'm not an idiot, Reid. I saw the news. So tell me, honestly: are you getting attached, or are you just that good of a liar?"

"The fact you even need to ask is insulting." Ashleigh lied. "You should know the answer."

"I should. But I need to be sure."

"Look, I don't know what you want me to say. But the mission is always my first priority- nothing has changed that."

"If you're sure. But be careful- I'll take your word for now, but don't for a second think we're blind enough for you to try and pull anything. Understand?"

"I understand." Ashleigh said curtly, and hung up.

Chapter Text

Ashleigh took a minute to change out of her space suit and into her favourite turtleneck- a welcome change from the stiff material of the only dress that she'd taken to space.

She then found some in-date fruit from her fridge, poured it into a little bowl and returned to her room to place it into Prowler's cage.

"I'm going to dinner. See you later." She said quietly. But dinner meant seeing Mary and Lilian, and seeing Mary and Lilian would only remind her that she still didn't have a secure place on the Project.

Would she have to ask them? It could work- that's not what she was worried about. What worried her was how it would make her look: desperate. (She was desperate. This was her last chance to continue her mission.)

But these were the consequences of her actions. And as much as she hated it, she was the only person who had to ultimately deal with those consequences.

She checked her watch, sighed, and went to put on her boots. Prowler squeaked pitifully as she left.

Lilian, too, had gotten changed- now she was wearing a floaty blouse that Ashleigh recognised as one of her 'casual' outfits.

"Hi, Ashleigh! Are you feeling a little more rested?"

"A little." She smiled, despite feeling nothing of the sort.

"Lovely. Mary said she'd be over in just a second- her mother's just arrived, you see."

"Ah. Great."

It struck Ashleigh just then that she genuinely had no idea what Mary's mother was actually called. She'd met her a handful of times- by this point, it was definitely too late to ask.

"Anyways, please make yourself comfortable until then. Tea's almost ready. Would you like a drink?"

Ashleigh knew that Lilian meant 'tea' as in 'dinner', but it didn't make it any less weird.

"Have you got anything soft?" (She would need to be sober for the conversation she'd be having with her and Mary later.)

"Of course! I think I have some cordial in the fridge."

Ashleigh nodded. "That'd be fine. Thanks."

Lilian's house was very well equipped for entertaining people. Her table was big, her dining room was well decorated, and the tasteful, personal trinkets left on sideboards and cabinets almost made one forget that they were sitting in the same room as the person that literally ran the entire city.

Ashleigh had just settled down into one of the pristine chairs when she heard a commotion- the Somerses had arrived.

Newton came rushing in a minute later.

"Doctor Reid! Guess what- Grannie's here!"

The woman herself entered a second later.

It was a little funny seeing Mary and her mother next to each other. This was mostly due to the height difference- Mary absolutely towered over her mother, though from what Ashleigh knew of her, the latter more than made up for it in terms of personality. Though the resemblance was made clear through their hair- despite Mary's mother's being longer and greying- and the clear, sparkling blue of their eyes. (Ashleigh quickly redirected her gaze to a painted vase that Lilian had in her bookshelf, as she realised she'd been staring at Mary for a bit too long again.)

"Evening, darlin'!" Mary smiled brilliantly at her. "How are ye feeling?"

"Better for being on solid ground." Ashleigh answered honestly. She nodded politely at Mary's mother. "Hello."

"Hello, Ashleigh." Mary's mother said, sitting down at the table. "Still keepin' my Mary grounded, I see?"

"She's been doin' a lot more than just that, Mum!" Mary said, moving to sit down next to her.

"Oh, I know. It's good to see ye again."

"Thank you."

Lilian swept in, carrying a stack of plates. "I'm sure you two must be sick of pasta by now, but I'm afraid I didn't have time to prepare anything more elaborate."

"With yer schedule, Lil, I'm surprised you even managed that!" Mary said, as Newton attempted origami with one of the fancily printed napkins.

Mary's mother chuckled. "Still as busy as ever, Lilian?" Then, to Ashleigh: "In all my years of knowin' her, that woman has barely sat down for a second."

"Sounds like Lilian." Ashleigh agreed quietly.

"So! Ashleigh, Mary," Mary's still-unnamed mother began, after a plate of pasta (not spaghetti this time) had been placed in front of each person at the table, "how was the trip? What did ye do?"

"Yes, please tell us!" Lilian added.

"Well, we had a great time- right, Ashleigh?"

Ashleigh nodded dutifully. "Yes. It all went smoothly."

"How did you pass all that time?" Lilian asked, leaning towards Mary slightly across the table.

"Sleeping, mostly." Mary admitted. "And lots of work, of course..."

Ashleigh felt like she had to contribute more to this conversation, so she added: "We also played a few rounds of I Spy."

"We did!" Mary agreed. "When we could. Honestly, the time just flew by."

(Ashleigh did not mention the numerous times she'd caught Mary literally just pacing laps of the ship to dispel her boredom whenever she ran out of work to do, as that would most likely just give Lilian yet another thing to feel irrationally guilty about.)

"Well, I'm just glad yer back in one piece." Mary's mother said- and then folded her arms. "But next time, could ya tell me when the landing is? I would've come up yesterday if I'd known."

"I was in space, Mum! Besides, there-"

"Can I go with you to space next time?" Newton interrupted.

"Newtie, what have we said about takin' turns?" Mary asked him gently. Then she continued; "There probably won't be a 'next time' as far as branthium expeditions are concerned. Now that we know it works, we can figure out a way to automate the process- it's just more efficient that way."

"Aww." Newton said. "But I wanna be an astronaut!"

"And ye still can be!" (Newton switched up his ambitions at least once a week on average. He'd wanted to be a biologist studying prowlers the last time Ashleigh had checked.) "Just not with this. Honestly, petal, it wasnae that exciting. There was so much sitting around!"

As a rule, Ashleigh was excellent at paying attention to, well, everything. But she found her mind drifting to the point where she could just about nod in the vaguely correct places in the conversation that Newton's outburst had sparked, and otherwise found her thoughts consumed by the potential finality of this evening. Both for the mission, and for these people. (No. She would make this work.)

Finally, the meal was over.

"Mum," Mary said, "could ye take Newton home for me, please? There's something we need to discuss."

"Alright, dear. Come on, Newt!"

It was probably irrational to feel nervous about this turn of events, but that unfortunately wasn't stopping Ashleigh.

"Bye!" Mary's mother said as she left with Newton. Ashleigh wished she could be even half as cheerful.

Lilian moved positions from next to Ashleigh to opposite her, next to Mary. This somehow made Ashleigh feel even more apprehensive, as if they were ganging up on her (which, to be fair, they basically were.)

Now or never. She balled her fists up inside her sleeves under the table, and took a breath.

"Look, before you say anything-" Ashleigh cut in quickly, before either of them could start talking, "-I believe I could still be useful to this project. I know it's technically outside my field, but I've been working on it for years now, and-"

"Ashleigh! Calm down!" Lilian said, motioning with her hands as though Ashleigh was some wild, frightened animal. "We're not firing you from the project!"

"Absolutely not!" Mary agreed. "God, is this why you've looked so worried all evening?"

Ashleigh's silence was answer enough.

"Nooo! No!" Mary was now descending into a similar state of panic as Lilian. "Never!"

"Oh..?"

"We want ye to stay on the project!" She explained. "Even if not as my assistant- I'm sure you've had enough of that for a lifetime- but like ye said, you know as much about branthium as I do, and we need all the help we can get!"

"See, Mary, and you were worried about her leaving!" Lilian said gently, nudging her.

"You were?" Ashleigh asked, surprised.

Mary brushed some hair back from her face.

"Well... It's just that the whole Olympus move was so sudden... we knew it was a possibility, but still- it wasnae what you signed up for at all. Now that our agreement's technically over, I wouldn't have blamed ye if you'd decided to leave, go do somethin'... phase-y without bein' tied down to me, but... I'm really glad ye want to stay."

Ashleigh was so surprised that for a whole, wonderful second she completely forgot about her mission.

She didn't know what to say- thankfully, Mary jumped back in and filled the silence for her.

"You have no idea what a weight off my mind this is!" She laughed, suddenly in a visibly different mood. "Honestly, dear, I'd been wanting to ask ye all trip, but we kept getting sidetracked."

"Sidetracked?!" Lilian shook her head in disbelief. "You said you spent most of your time sitting around!"

"Okay, so maybe I was procrastinating a little." Mary shrugged. "But can ya blame me? No offense, darlin', but yer basically impossible to read... hah, Reid." (Ashleigh managed a weak laugh- she was still trying to process this situation.) "I was so sure this trip would be the last I saw of you!"

"Don't worry." Ashleigh said, feeling a deep pit open up in her stomach as she spoke. "I'm not going anywhere."

Mary smiled one of her gorgeous, sunny smiles, and Ashleigh's ache only grew worse.

Lilian, completely oblivious to this inner turmoil, got up from her seat.

"Well! Now that that's all sorted, would either of you like a drink?"

"I think I'll just go home." Ashleigh said quickly.

"Fair enough- you must be exhausted. What a day!"

"Aye, me too." Mary added. "Thanks, though- it was a lovely meal."

"Alright. You two definitely need some rest." Lilian said, as though this was the outcome she'd anticipated all along.

"Yeah." Ashleigh made a show of yawning. "Thanks, Lilian."

"Ooh! One more thing!" Lilian said suddenly, as the two scientists prepared to leave. "You two remember Aleki? He'll be here in just a few days!"

"Finally- I cannae wait to meet him!" Mary said, swinging her coat over her arms. "We'll have to give him a good welcome- right, Ashleigh?" She asked (slightly pointedly, though maybe Ashleigh was just paranoid).

"Right." Ashleigh said.

She could worry about the inevitable later.

For now, all she had to do was focus on the new, immediate obstacles in her path.

Chapter Text

Ashleigh's first impression of Dr. Aleki Gibraltar was that the video calls did not properly convey how the man was literally built like a brick wall in a floral shirt. Her second impression was that she sorely missed the video calls.

"Aleki!" Lilian called, running across the station to meet him.

"LILIAN!" He bellowed in response.

"Should we follow her...?" Ashleigh asked, trying to subtly stick by Mary's side while assessing the situation.

"Aye- let's go."

Ashleigh had witnessed them during the video calls, but it was still difficult to wrap her head around Lilian and Gibraltar knowing each other, let alone being friends. But, nonetheless, Gibraltar had been one of the first people Lilian had contacted to figure out the energy crisis.

Lilian turned back to the two of them as they walked over. "Don't be shy- come say hello!"

"There they are!" Aleki grinned as if they'd all known each other for years. "The dream team!"

"It's so great to finally meet ye in person, Aleki!" Mary said, sticking out a hand. He returned the handshake very enthusiastically.

"You too! I watched the launch, by the way- great work, both of you."

"Thanks!"

"And, hey, glad you're still around, Reid! Lilian told me 'bout your promotion."

"I'm glad to still be here." Ashleigh said truthfully.

Gibraltar's outfit was jarring against the commonly seen fashion on Olympus that Ashleigh had easily taken to- looking at his shirt for too long almost hurt her eyes.

"So, Aleki." Lilian said, putting on her most businesslike tone of voice. "Would you like a tour, or some time to settle in first?"

"I'm not here for a vacation!" He laughed at his own joke. "I just want to see the lab!"

"Oh- really? Right away?"

"This energy crisis ain't gonna solve itself- besides, I was here a few years ago. It can't have changed that much!"

"Ah, you'd be surprised. But if that's what you want, I'll arrange for your luggage to be taken to your apartment so you can unpack later."

"You're the best, Lil!"

"I know." Lilian smiled. "Mary, Ashleigh, could you two catch Aleki up on everything you've been doing?"

"We'd love to! You've come at the perfect time."

Ashleigh sized the man up as Mary spoke. Truth be told, she liked the arrangement in the lab that they'd had, and she didn't look forwards to more scientists being added to the mix. Especially ones with such... overwhelming personalities.

But she just nodded along and tried to put on a friendly tone of voice. "Yeah. Absolutely." She agreed.

The four of them walked over to what had formerly been Mary and Ashleigh's lab.

"I'll leave you three to it." Lilian said. "You'll have some time to get used to working with each other, at least, before the next member of our crew arrives."

"Och, yes, the geologist! When are they comin' again?"

"A few months, hopefully. We're just finalising the details now before she prepares to move."

"Wonderful. Well, no time to waste- come on, Aleki! Let's get ye all caught up."

Mary wasted no time in switching on the computers in the lab once they were inside. Just like they'd done countless times before, Mary sat down on the spinny chair by the main workstation, and Ashleigh leaned on the desk by her side. Only now there was a third presence, as Gibraltar loomed over the pair, bending down slightly to look at the screen.

Ashleigh had never heard anyone breathe so loudly in her life. She tried to focus on smiling vaguely while Mary rattled through a recap of their research so that she could ignore the persistent urge to strangle him purely to stop him from making more noise than the lab's ancient coffee machine.

She'd never believed in-or witnessed-the concept of people just 'clicking' before now. But the further into the work day they went, the more her heart sank. They got along like a house on fire- Gibraltar was every bit as enthusiastic as Mary, and just as chatty. They spent the day swapping lighthearted anecdotes: Gibraltar providing stories of his travels around the Outlands, and Mary responding with amusing incidents that she'd experienced over the last couple of years.

Ashleigh realised with a heavy heart that the days where it was just the two of them working together were well and truly over.

"...Well, I wouldnae have managed it without Ashleigh, of course!" Mary was saying- Ashleigh looked around surreptitiously after hearing her name. "She's practically the only thing keepin' me from drifting out into space at any minute."

Gibraltar laughed at that, though considering events that had almost happened, it was a lot less funnier than Mary probably realised.

"And what about you, Ashleigh?" Gibraltar (she was going to have to call him by his first name now, wasn't she.) asked, turning towards her from the workstation that had been set up for him. "How've you been findin' Olympus so far?"

"I like it." Ashleigh replied, trying to keep her replies short to shut down the unwanted interaction.

"Oh, Mary said phase science is your whole thing, right? No wonder you like it here, with the Phase Runners and all. I remember seeing 'em build those! Can't get my head around the theory, though."

"Ashleigh's tried explainin' it to me before- it's fascinating, but so complicated!" Mary added, shooting her a warm smile that made her heart somersault.

"Once you get it, it'll all fall into place." Ashleigh said to her, ignoring Gibraltar entirely. "Though, personally, I'd take it over astrophysics any day."

"After all we've been through..." Mary shook her head. "The Phase Runners are an impressive feat of science, but I guess they must be even better than I thought!"

"Oh, they are."

The conversation put Ashleigh slightly more at ease, but it didn't erase how much Gibraltar's addition to their workspace agitated her. (God, when had she become so clingy?)

"Are ye alright, dearie? You've been quiet all day." Mary asked her in a low voice as they packed up at the end of the day.

"I'm fine." Ashleigh said. "Just..." (How could she put it?)

"...Gettin' used to him?" Mary finished for her. She looked up at her in surprise. "It's okay- I understand completely."

"You do?"

"Well, I think he's great, but I can imagine that for you, he'd be..." She glanced over at Gibraltar, and continued; "... a lot."

"M-hm." Ashleigh agreed.

"Look, anyways," Mary said, brightening up as she shut down the computer. "I was wonderin' if you'd like to come over for the evenin'? There's a new Galactic Guardian film out- we watched the first one when we were in space, remember?"

"I'd love that!" Ashleigh said, and any potential regret at how enthusiastically she'd responded was erased by how Mary's face lit up as she said it.

"Brilliant! How does takeout sound?"

"Takeout sounds perfect."

Ashleigh was just reflecting on why she'd been worried about things changing so much in the first place when Gibraltar cleared his throat from his corner.

"I'm gonna head out, bruddahs." She raised her eyebrows at the odd collective nickname, catching Mary's eye (she had a similar, albeit subtler, reaction). "Lookin' forwards to another great day of work!"

"That's the spirit! See ya tomorrow, Aleki!"

"Have a good evening- both of you." Gibraltar said, smiling, before swiping his id card and leaving. It was, unsettlingly, the same smile that Lilian always displayed whenever she signalled to Ashleigh that she Knew.

She filed away that horrifying thought for later.

"Ready to go?" Mary asked her as she hung up her lab coat, swapping it for her regular coat.

"Can I grab Prowler? I don't want him to be alone for the evening."

"Of course! I'll see ye over there, then."

After they'd both signed out, Mary opened the door, and motioned to it. "After you."

"Oh- thanks." Ashleigh squinted at the sky to hide her blush. "Clear night tonight."

"It is! Anyways, I'll get us all set up."

"Brilliant." Ashleigh said. "I'll be right back."

Chapter Text

From what Ashleigh had seen, Galactic Guardian was just another convoluted sci-fi franchise which had vastly exceeded its lifespan. Nonetheless, Mary loved it, so she tried to keep an open mind.

"Is Newton in bed already?" She asked, noticing the odd lack of overexcited six year old as she entered Mary's apartment later that evening.

"He's at a friend from school's- I'll be pickin' him up in about..." Mary checked her watch, "... an hour and a half." She explained. "We'll be mostly through the film through then, though."

"Got it. Nice to hear he's getting on alright at school."

"Aye," She smiled, "not that I was worried, but... I was."

"He'll be fine." Ashleigh said, with complete certainty.

"Anyway!" Mary swung open the door to her living room. "We're all set up!"

Ashleigh surveyed the room. "How the hell did you do all this so fast? We left work an hour ago."

Not only was the film ready to go; there was a tray of snacks (she was standing too far to make out what they were, but there looked like a good variety), some drinks, and a large paper bag on the table which Ashleigh guessed was the takeout.

"Anythin' for Galactic Guardian!" Mary said proudly. "Go on- take a seat."

Ashleigh obliged and Mary followed, sitting right next to her on the sofa.

"This one's a direct sequel to the one we watched in space, so there shouldn't be anything that ye dinnae know. If there is, though, I'd be more than happy to explain."

"Right."

"It is strange seein' it in live action, though..." Mary said thoughtfully. "The shows I watched as a kid were always animated."

"That does happen with film adaptations, doesn't it?" Ashleigh asked- though she didn't know much about film or the sci fi genre at all.

"Aye." Mary shrugged. "It works sometimes- luckily, this is one of those times."

"Should we... start the film?"

"Oh! Of course." Mary quickly switched it on. "Want some snacks?"

"Sure."

"I also got some fruit for Prowler, if he wants any."

Ashleigh hadn't noticed the little bowl of fruit on the corner of the snack tray before.

"That's- so kind of you."

"He's a guest too! He deserves 'em."

(She'd gone out of her way to put out fruit for Prowler. How would she be able to deal with the Mary-shaped hole in her life after her mission was complete? Before she'd met her, her life felt fine, but now everything felt bleak in comparison to life with her; like comparing candlelight to a star.)

The film began. Ashleigh was less interested in the film itself- which was, she had to admit, fine- but the real show was Mary's reaction to it. She'd never seen anyone respond so strongly to fiction before.

The fight scenes were decently choreographed, she supposed, even with the massive robots. Mary was... very interested.

"That's why Sonia's the best protagonist in this whole bloody franchise." She said in an undertone  as the main character brushed her hair back from her face with a cybernetic hand streaked with someone else's blood. "God, I remember havin' such a crush on her when I watched the original series as a teenager."

"Really?" Ashleigh tried to say casually, occupying herself by taking some popcorn and not meeting Mary's eyes.

"I mean- can ye really blame me?"

Though they'd never directly discussed it before, Ashleigh had vaguely known that Mary was attracted to women. But she didn't let on much about herself at all- did Mary even know that she was a lesbian? Was this some sort of trick question? (She was almost certainly overthinking this).

No point in overcomplicating it.

"No." Ashleigh shook her head. "That seems very reasonable."

Mary shot her a tiny smile before returning her focus to the film.

About half an hour later, Mary got up to return with the takeout bag.

"Got Chinese- is that alright?"

"Perfect." Ashleigh said.

"Honestly." She shook her head, placing her finished box back on the tray. "Even the takeout's better here."

"Really?"

"I mean, the Frontier's a big place. But I travelled around a lot... and Olympus tops it all."

"That's sayin' a lot!" Mary set her tray down on the footstool. "Honestly, I'm a wee bit jealous."

Ashleigh shifted around to look at her. "Jealous?"

"Yeah! I ken that it's not... always the nicest place to live, but I've lived on Psamathe my whole life. There's so much of the universe that I've never seen..."

"You're not missing out." She said shortly. "But... I mean, when the Project's over, you don't have an obligation to this place anymore, right?"

"When the Project's over... I've barely thought about it."

Ashleigh had given it altogether too much thought.

"Neither." She lied.

"But maybe yer right! There's a few places I'd like to check off my bucket list. Ooh!" She turned herself to mirror Ashleigh's position. "You've been all over the Frontier- maybe ye could give me some pointers?"

"I could put together a list for you, no problem." Ashleigh smiled. Then she snapped out of her daze. "Hey, what time were you meant to be picking up Newton?"

"I need to leave in five- dinnae worry, I've been keepin' an eye on the time."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"If you want! Sorry, I guess ye dinnae want to be stuck here while I'm out."

"It's not a problem." Ashleigh said quickly, shaking her head. "I just thought... if you wanted any company..."

"Well." Mary stood up, extending a hand towards her. "I need someone to listen to my absent-minded singin', don't I?"

Ashleigh looked up at the sky from the passenger seat of Mary's car. It was still a clear night- she tried to pick out any of the constellations that Mary had taught her, but drew a blank.

Newton sat in the back seat, chattering away.

"Sounds like ye had a great evening, petal! Did you have any dinner?" Mary asked.

"Yeah! We had sausages and chips."

"Brilliant."

Mary flicked on the radio, and softly hummed along to it all the way back to the apartment.

"Teeth and then bedtime, alright?" Mary said once they got inside.

"Ok!"

"We'll finish the film off after Newt goes to bed." She added quietly to Ashleigh after Newton had run off.

"Anything I can do in the meantime?"

"Just make yerself comfortable! I'll be right back."

"Okay."

She went back to the living room and sat back on the sofa, putting Prowler down next to her on a cushion.

Eventually, Mary returned, carrying two mugs.

"Only a bit of the film left!"

"Great." Ashleigh said, taking a mug. "Thank you."

Reluctantly, Ashleigh actually found herself somewhat invested in the film by the ending. As the main character and her love interest kissed dramatically in front of an exploding space station, she felt Mary's eyes on her.

"...What?" She asked, when she could no longer ignore it.

"Nothing- I'm just glad yer enjoyin' the film."

"Oh- yeah. It was a lot better than I expected." Ashleigh said sincerely.

Mary raised her eyebrows. "High praise!"

"Anyway." Ashleigh carefully picked up Prowler and placed him on her shoulder. "I should probably be going."

"Right- yes." She agreed, following Ashleigh in getting up from the sofa.

Mary unlocked the door for her, and paused. Ashleigh followed her gaze up to the sky- still as clear as she'd noticed earlier.

"Ye ken..." She said slowly. "I've still got some tea left over..."

Ashleigh smiled slightly as she understood. "It would be a shame to waste it."

Mary turned back to refill their mugs while Ashleigh grabbed both of their coats. When each had one mug and one coat, they set out for the nearest bench to settle down on.

"This reminds me of the meteors." Ashleigh remarked.

"Oh- yes! Feels so long ago, now..."

They drank their tea in comfortable silence.

After they'd both finished, she felt Mary's eyes on her again.

"Hey, Ashleigh?"

She turned to face her. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for this evening."

Something about Mary's expression made her freeze. Mostly because, unless she was sorely mistaken, she'd seen this face before- just not on Mary.

Ashleigh was not completely inexperienced when it came to romance. When she was still in college, she'd briefly had a girlfriend- not because she'd particularly reciprocated her feelings, but rather just because she'd wanted to know what it felt like. Her (short-lived) girlfriend had ended the relationship as soon as she realised that between Ashleigh's mercenary work and college she really had no interest in making time for her, and Ashleigh had concluded that the entire thing was a waste of time.

But the way Mary was looking at her...

She knew that she needed to rearrange her body language indicate to her that yes, definitely, she wanted this. But she hesitated.

Could she be in a relationship with Mary, knowing that she'd eventually have to leave- or worse? She wanted to, sure, but her mission had to come first. Protecting Mary was one thing- how would dating her affect her priorities? And what if Mary found out the truth? It would ruin everything.

Next to her, Mary laughed and leaned back away from her, and she realised that she'd just missed her chance.

"Ah- er, now that you've seen the Galactic Guardian films, how about I show ye the series sometime?"

"That would be nice."

The night suddenly felt colder- Ashleigh pulled her coat closer around herself.

"You alright, darlin'?" Mary asked instantly.

"Fine." She said quickly. "But... I think I need to get Prowler to bed."

Mary nodded. "'Course! I'll take yer mug."

"Thanks. And, Mary- I had a really great evening. Thank you."

She smiled, taking back the mug. "Anytime, dear. Can ye get home okay?"

"It's not a long walk." Ashleigh stood up from the bench- if she didn't get up now, she might never leave. "I'll be fine."

"Alright! Night, then."

"Night."

Ashleigh considered waving to her as she walked off with Prowler, but that would've just looked ridiculous.

She walked quickly- she needed to get home.

"You saw how she was looking at me, right?" Ashleigh asked Prowler from where she was slumped on her bed. "Even I could recognise that look! And I just..."

She could hear Prowler shuffling around in his cage, absorbed in his own little world. Nonetheless, she continued.

"I just- can't stop thinking about how it could work. I want it to work, but if I did, I'd never be able to stop thinking about my mission. But... shit, Prowler. I'd do it in a heartbeat if I didn't have my job to worry about..."

Stop thinking like that. She told herself. You know that isn't an option. That's the one thing you can't get yourself out of.

She almost wanted to draw up another pros/cons list, and she equally knew the reason that she didn't.

Because she wanted this more than she'd ever wanted to carry out any assignment. And there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

Chapter Text

True to her word, over the next few weeks Mary introduced Ashleigh to a lot more Galactic Guardian. (She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was beginning to get invested.) However, starting from the the day after that evening, she acted as if nothing had almost happened between them at all. Things were back to the way they were- except for Gibraltar's continued presence. Ashleigh didn't entirely know how to feel about this, but at least it meant she could put off figuring out what to do with her feelings for Mary for a little longer.

Gibraltar had taken no time at all to throw himself wholeheartedly into the Olympus lifestyle. Even Ashleigh, who didn't make as much use of the city as she probably should've, couldn't avoid him anymore.

"We should do somethin' nice... get to know him better..." Mary mused one evening, sitting slightly further away from Ashleigh on the sofa than she used to.

"Like what?"

Mary was dead set on liking Gibraltar, and it didn't benefit Ashleigh at all to try and oppose this. No matter how irritating he was, she couldn't afford to give him any reason to dislike or distrust her- so she had to just grit her teeth and go along with it.

"Dinnae ken..." She shrugged, "Lunch? There's a new burger place I've been wantin' to try."

"I wouldn't say no to that."

Though Ashleigh had never particularly enjoyed burgers back in the Frontier, something told her that that may have been more down to the quality of food she had been eating, rather than the food itself. So she tried to keep an open mind.

"Then, I'll ask him tomorrow? Might as well do it soon, right?"

Ashleigh nodded. "Sounds good."

"Aleki!" Mary called the next day at work. "Are ya doin' anything at lunch today?"

Work hours were flexible, but due to Mary's workaholic tendencies Ashleigh was used to staying in the lab all day. She'd asked Ashleigh out for lunch a few times before, but more often or not the two of them survived off packed lunches... or Mary forgot to eat at all.

Gibraltar shook his head. "Nope! Why?"

"Ashleigh and I were gonna check out that new burger place- would ye like to come with us?"

He laughed, and Ashleigh could've sworn she saw the items on her desk rattling.

"Do you even need to ask?"

"Lovely! We'll head over in a few hours, then?"

"I'll keep an eye on the time." Ashleigh chipped in, catching Mary's eye. She smiled at her- and then flicked her eyes away to look back at her work. So Ashleigh did the same.

They wandered over a few hours later. Mary and Gibraltar chatted about the menu, and Ashleigh noticed how the cherry blossom trees were somehow still in season.

As they arrived, she realised that her idea of a burger place and Mary's idea of a burger place were two very different things. Somewhat disappointingly, it resembled every other restaurant on Olympus: shiny.

They sat down at a table in the corner, and Ashleigh took a menu to scan over while she waited. The options were expansive, to say the least, so she just went for the most normal-looking option.

Gibraltar looked around. "Bet my kids would love it here. I'll have to take them when they next visit."

"You have children?" Mary asked.

"Two." Gibraltar smiled. "Leeki and Miko. They're older than Newton, so it didn't feel right movin' them halfway across the Outlands when I don't know how many years this thing'll take."

She nodded. "I understand. Hope ye get a chance to see them soon- I cannae imagine how much you must miss them."

"Thanks." He sighed- and then quickly brightened, changing the subject. "You two should've seen Olympus when it was first set up- no people, no restaurants, nothin'! It's great to see it so busy."

"Lilian invited me, but Newton was only a few months old so I couldnae make the trip." Mary said, sighing slightly. "Would've loved to have been there, though."

"Aw, yeah, definitely."

Mary quickly resumed the conversation after the table had ordered.

"How did you and Lil meet, anyway? I forgot to ask."

"Oh, that was a while ago..." Gibraltar leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, reminiscing. "Her foundation backed a project I was workin' on, to improve the power efficiency in Solace City. I thought that'd be the last I saw of her, but she contacted me years later to ask for help with Olympus' generators. Guess I left quite an impression on her!"

"That's why ye were workin' on Iris so early!" Mary concluded, with the same tone of voice as whenever she'd figured out a puzzle. "It all makes sense now."

"But you knew her in college, right? Bet you've got some stories."

Ashleigh glanced back at Mary, mildly interested. Mary and Lilian didn't talk too much about their history in front of her, and she'd never particularly asked.

"I mean, what is there to tell?" Mary shrugged. "There's a lot of years to cover."

"Just... what was she like? How did you meet?"

"Nowhere near the social butterfly she is now, that's for sure! Which makes sense, considerin' this was before... well. I'm sure ye know."

Gibraltar nodded, unexpectedly serious. "Right... yeah."

Ashleigh looked between the two of them. "Know what?"

"Oh! Sorry, dear. Lil's parents were assassinated, back in... '29, I think? It was big news in the Outlands at the time- I forgot ye wouldn't have known. They were unpopular with the Council, she told me- for the opposite reasons Lilian is- and she never had a good relationship with them either, so she actually came out of her shell a lot after it happened."

"I had no idea." Ashleigh said truthfully. She'd researched Lilian when she'd been assigned the mission, but that piece of news must've been buried under the multitude of charitable acts that her name had become associated with since.

"Anyway, I was the youngest in my year by a pretty significant margin, and she was obviously a few years older and didnae have any friends- hard to believe now, but this was a long time ago- so we ended up hitting it off pretty quickly."

Ashleigh nodded. "Makes sense."

"Wait, Ashleigh-" Gibraltar said suddenly "- did you study phase science at college? I know the course is more common these days, but was it for you?"

"I studied it." She replied. "But there was only one college that offered it at the time: Angel City. I had to move planets to get there."

"Damn- that makes me feel old." Gibraltar paused, and quickly thanked the waiter as their food arrived. Then he continued. "You know, one of my friends is a phase scientist- but it pretty much didn't exist at all when we were in college! She teaches it now, though... Suotamo, last I heard. Hey, that one's meant to look similar to Angel City, right? That's a coincidence."

"I heard that, but I've never visited. Has she been to Olympus?"

(There were relatively few phase scientists; especially those that were around Gibraltar's age. Ashleigh knew that it was quite likely that she would've heard of whoever Gibraltar's friend was, but fangirling would've been both unprofessional and embarrassing. So she didn't follow up on the question.)

Gibraltar shook his head. "I've suggested it to her a few times, but she always says she's too busy with her work. Actually, I told Lilian the other day that she should recruit her wife for the project, so maybe we'll see the two of 'em after all! If either of them can be persuaded to leave Suotamo for more than a few months... and if Lilian decides we need more physicists, of course."

"She might..." Mary said thoughtfully. "With a project like this, we need all the help we can get."

Ashleigh hoped that that would not be the case, as they walked back over to the lab. She had only just begun to tolerate Gibraltar- and she had a terrible feeling that he was not the outlier in terms of tolerability when it came to Lilian's scientist associates.

Chapter Text

"Does Newton have the... prowler board game?"

Ashleigh faced a wall of prowler-themed memorabilia in the sixth shop on Psamathe's surface that she'd visited that day. She'd never been good at buying birthday gifts- mostly because she hadn't had to do it up until a couple of years ago.

Mary's voice rang through her phone. "Ah... Mum said she might get him a board game. Prowler Panic, right?"

"That's the one." She affirmed. "I'll find something else."

"Honestly, it's kind of ye to go to the effort, but dinnae worry if-"

"I'll find something else." She repeated, firmly.

How hard could it be to find a gift for a prowler-obsessed kid about to turn seven?

"Ooh!" Mary said suddenly. "He said the other day that he wants to read more 'grown-up' books. Not really sure as to what he classes as grown-up, but does that help at all?"

"That should be enough. Thanks."

"Gotta run, sorry, but call me if yer still stuck, 'kay?"

"Will do. See you later."

Ashleigh folded her arms after hanging up, and stared pensively out of the shop window at a bookshop across the street. Surely...

An hour later, she texted Mary a photograph of the book she'd found: 'Prowlers of the Frontier'. It had technical illustrations and descriptions, but from her quick scan of some of the pages, didn't appear to be too difficult for him to read.

Mary responded instantly: 'PERFECT. thanks so much darlin' (she punctuated the message with far more heart emojis than normal.)

Smiling involuntary at the message, Ashleigh leaned against the transport terminal wall and waited for the next one to come along. (There were only four transports that went to and from Olympus per day, so timing was vital for planetside shopping trips. Or... other excursions.)

A transport drifted down and she made a beeline for one of the seats. She balanced the paper bag on her knees and glanced at her phone- skimming through the messages on the group chat that Mary and Gibraltar had added her to. He'd been working with them for about two months now, and Ashleigh could more or less tolerate him. (She dreaded to think of how she would've handled working with him if she'd gone through with her original plan.)

It was only as she arrived back at Olympus that she realised she'd forgotten to buy any wrapping paper. And she didn't even have to think about it to know that she definitely didn't have any in her apartment.

Only one thing for it. Time to call Mary again.

She picked up instantly.

"Ashleigh! Everythin' alright, dear?"

"Fine, just- do you have any wrapping paper? I forgot to buy any."

"Of course! Come right over- I'll get ye sorted."

"Thanks. I'll be there in a minute."

Mary's face lit up as she took the book from Ashleigh and flipped through it.

"Look at this! He'll love it. Thank ye again..." She handed it back and searched through one of her cupboards. "I think... this one!"

Ashleigh peered over her shoulder at the roll of wrapping paper she'd found: red, with a green zigzag pattern.

"Very nice." She said approvingly. "Prowler-coloured."

Mary laughed. "I didnae even notice! Anyway, take as much as ye need- I have more of this stuff then I know what to do with. Oh- and I'll grab some tape."

She handed her the paper, and Ashleigh laid it flat on her table underneath the book. It struck her that this was exactly the sort of book that she'd borrow from the crumbling library near where she'd lived as a kid, and then 'forget' to ever bring back. She would've legitimately killed for something like this.

"By the way, dear," Mary began, walking back in with an oversized roll of tape, "since the weather's lookin' nice for Newt's birthday, we were thinking of doin' a picnic. What do you think?"

"Sounds like a good idea."

"Aye, and I can make sandwiches and... other picnic stuff! Lil's free that morning, too."

Ashleigh carefully folded the paper around the book as she listened.

"Is Prowler invited?" She asked, while fastening the parcel with tape. (Though, of course, she already knew the answer.)

"Top of the guest list! Newtie already put in a request, but I told him he'd have to ask you."

"Then tell him he can't wait to be there."

If it was anyone else, she would've been embarrassed at the childishness of anthropomorphising her rat in front of others. But when it came to Newton, Ashleigh found that she didn't mind at all.

"He'll be happy to hear that, I'm sure." Mary said, smiling.

The day itself arrived a few days later. Ashleigh put on the lightest clothing she could while still covering the burn scar that stretched like a map from her neck to her left shoulder. (She was used to Olympus' summers by now, and very experienced at adjusting her wardrobe to suit it.)

After coaxing Prowler into the travel pouch that she wore like a satchel, she set off- remembering at the last minute to grab a sunhat.

The spot they had agreed to meet was marked with a collection of blankets, with plates of small food scattered around on top.  Newton circled it, seemingly just running laps around for no particular reason while clutching what appeared to be a large prowler plushie.

Mary and Lilian were sat on the blanket, deep in conversation. Ashleigh quietly walked over to them, careful to plan out her route so as to avoid getting crashed into.

"Ashleigh!" Mary said, breaking off her conversation to greet her. "So good to see ye."

"Good to see you too." She responded, and then inspected the picnic spread. "Did you make the cake?"

"Aye. Tried to go for Prowler colours, to stay on theme." Mary said proudly. "Newton tried to eat it for breakfast this morning, which I'm takin' as a good sign."

"High praise." Ashleigh agreed, sitting down on the soft grass plate. She removed Prowler from the pouch and placed him on the ground.

"Is it a good idea to let him so near the food?" Lilian asked, looking skeptically at the rat. "I don't mean to be rude, but... I made that mistake myself while you two were in space."

"I'll make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." Ashleigh said, picking up Prowler and placing him onto her knee instead. "I did spend a long time training him- and I brought some treats to incentivise him if he gets distracted."

Lilian leaned back, seemingly satisfied. "Ah, I should've known that you'd have a backup plan."

"Anyway, Lil, you were talkin' about holding a gala...?" Mary pressed, raising her eyebrows.

"That's right! As great as your presentation a few years ago was, Mary, you know how my... associates are. Hopefully some nice music and sparkling wine will make them more agreeable this time."

"It'd work on me!" Mary laughed.

"I'll probably have to hold it... sometime in the winter, I think? But, yes, it'll happen at some point."

Lilian took a tiny sandwich, and sighed.

"But if that doesn't work... we really will be out of options."

"It'll work." Mary said, confidently. "Even the miserliest Psamathe billion- or trillionaires, some of 'em- cannae resist one of yer parties, Lil."

She tried to smile. "Thanks. I hope you're right."

Newton wandered over a few minutes later.

"When did Doctor Reid get here?" He asked.

"A little while ago!" Mary laughed. "We were just waitin' for you to be done playing."

"Oh." His eyes shifted around the scene, until he spotted Prowler. "And you brought Prowler!"

"Of course." Ashleigh smiled. "He wouldn't have wanted to miss your birthday."

Next to her, Mary reached into her bag to find a knife.

"Are ya ready for some cake, Newtie?"

"YES!" He yelled, rushing forwards to sit down by the blanket opposite her.

She laughed. "Alright!"

Mary was a very good baker- Ashleigh had to exercise a lot of self restraint to not ask for another slice of cake. Thankfully, her having to keep a close eye on Newton so that he didn't accidentally let Prowler get into the leftover food (despite his protests that he was seven now and super responsible) served as a decent distraction.

"Is now a good time to give him his present?" Ashleigh asked Mary in a low voice, once she was sure that Newton wouldn't overhear.

Mary glanced at her watch. "Aye... we need to catch the transport down to Malta in half an hour, so that'd be perfect." She raised her voice slightly. "Hey, Newtie? Doctor Reid has somethin' for you, dear."

Newton practically ran over, Prowler perched contentedly on his shoulder.

"Really?!"

He stood impressively still while Ashleigh took the parcel out of the paper bag that she'd brought with her.

"I hope you like it." Ashleigh said, handing it to him. "Happy birthday!"

Newton tore the wrapping paper off so viciously that Ashleigh wondered if he was once again imitating his favourite animal.

"Wow!" He said, staring at the book with wide, sparkling eyes. "This is so cool!"

He immediately flopped down onto the grass and started poring over it. Mary cleared her throat gently, and then again when Newton didn't look up the first time.

"Oh right!" He said, springing up- and tackling Ashleigh into a hug, even though he was only about as tall as her hip.

"Not quite what I-" Mary began, looking at Ashleigh apologetically.

For one, awful second, Ashleigh saw the top of someone else's head where Newton was meant to be. Someone who didn't even reach seven years old.

"Thanks, Doctor Reid." He- Newton- said.

"...No problem." She managed. (Because Newton was not him. Even though sometimes, recently, when she tried to recall her brother's face, his eyes were blue- instead of the hazel that she knew they should've been.)

"Mum, can I take my book on the transport to the museum?" Newton asked, finally (thankfully) letting go of her and turning back to Mary.

"Great idea! We should head off soon, by the way."

"Me and Mum are going to the prowler museum." Newton explained. "Wanna come?"

Ashleigh hesitated, glancing at Mary. She nodded almost imperceptibly. But, as much as she hated to admit to herself, being reminded of her brother so strongly had rattled her. Walking headlong into environments that forced her to experience unpleasant emotions was not exactly her idea of a fun afternoon.

"Thanks for the offer, but..." Even as she spoke, she could see Newton's face fall a little.

What was she thinking? It was his birthday. And for some inexplicable reason, Newton thought she was...cool? Ashleigh knew she was a terrible person, but even she wasn't a monster. (Besides- his disappointed face somehow made her feel even worse.)

"...I just need to take Prowler home first. I'd love to come!"

"Yay!" Newton cheered. "Family trip!" Then he paused suddenly. "Auntie Lilian, are you really too busy to come too?"

"Unfortunately." Lilian sighed. "I'm really sorry, Newton. I'll make sure I can go next time, for sure- could you tell me all about it the next time I see you?"

"Yeah!" He nodded. "I'll take pictures on Mum's phone and everything!"

"Right, Ashleigh- is twenty minutes enough to get sorted?" Mary asked, suddenly back in business mode.

Ashleigh reached a hand out and Prowler hopped across from where he'd been sat on Newton's shoulder. She gently placed him in the pouch. "Yeah, that'll be enough. See you two in a minute."

"See ya!"

Ashleigh's phone buzzed as she walked back to her apartment.

It was from Mary: 'saw ye looked a bit tense back there- want me to have a talk with newt ab the huggin thing? xx'

(She hadn't realised that Mary noticed.)

'It's fine. Thanks.' she replied, 'Just took me by surprise.'

Mary replied instantly. 'ok! if yer sure :) see u in a min'

As she dropped Prowler off at her apartment and looped back round to head for the station, Ashleigh made a mental note to be more careful to not display any more emotions  than necessary next time.

Aside from one instance of Newton giving them the slip and running off into the maze of exhibits, the museum trip had been a success.

"I wanna be a prowler-ologist when I grow up!" He announced as they sat in a row on the transport back to Olympus.

"I thought you wanted to be an astronaut?" Ashleigh pointed out.

"Prowlers are cooler." He shrugged.

"Cooler than space?!" Mary gasped dramatically.

"Yep!"

"Well, of course I'll support ye in whatever it is you want to do... even if that's bein' a biologist."

Newton smiled and buried his head back in his new book. "Cool." 

"Thanks for comin' with us." Mary said, leaning forwards slightly so she could see Ashleigh. "Guess I'll see ya on Monday?"

"Yeah." Ashleigh smiled.

"Och- and the new geologist! That's exciting."

"Very." She lied.

Chapter Text

Ashleigh kept glancing towards the lab's door as she set up her work for the day. Any minute now, the new geologist would arrive. She'd learned a little bit about her from Lilian: namely, that her name was Amélie, she was from Gaea, and her partner- a chemist, apparently- had also been offered a job on Olympus, albeit not on the project itself (thankfully).

"I heard she's known as the 'mother of minerals'." Mary said to her in a low voice as she walked over to lean against her desk. "And she's barely thirty!"

"You were a renowned astrophysicist by the time you were thirty." Ashleigh pointed out. "And I'd imagine the bar is a little lower for geologists."

Mary shrugged. "Well, I dinnae ken anythin' about rocks, so..."

They both turned around at the sound of the door sliding open. Ashleigh's ears were immediately slapped by a very insistent-sounding, French- accented voice:

"...and what is the security in this place? Surely for a high-profile project such as this one you at least have decent security?"

"Well, we have cameras-" Lilian said, sounding more than a little startled.

"And microphones? Do your cameras have microphones?"

"Not... presently, but-"

"No microphones?! None?! Peck, I cannot work here if-"

"But." Lilian interrupted her quickly. "If needed, the lab is equipped with a lockdown and self-destruct mechanism. Not that you'll need it, of course! Hopefully."

That seemed to satisfy her. Ashleigh filed the information on the lab's security measures away in her mind for later plotting.

Lilian cleared her throat, though everyone in the room was already paying close attention to their new colleague's unusual entrance. "Everyone? This is Doctor Amélie Paquette, our new geologist! I hope you'll all make sure she feels welcomed."

At first glance the geologist appeared... very normal. A little too concerned about security for Ashleigh's liking, but otherwise very ordinary-looking compared to her two other colleagues. In fact, she looked exactly as she expected a (reportedly) highly respected geologist to look. Perhaps she'd been worried for no reason- this one didn't seem like she'd cause her much trouble at all.

"Hello." She said, smiling neutrally. "I look forwards to working with you all."

"Alright-" Lilian stood next to her and pointed to each of the group in turn. "So that's Aleki- Mary- and Ashleigh. Have fun, you lot!"

Paquette made a beeline for the sample of branthium on Mary's desk as soon as Lilian left.

"This is it?"

"Yep!" Gibraltar tapped the container, surprisingly delicately. "This is all we've got right now."

"I've worked with less." Paquette leaned down to inspect it from all angles. "I researched sustainable energy for the IMC, for one."

"Didnae think that would interest them." Mary remarked, moving to stand next to her. "But we could use the money if it did."

"Oh, it doesn't." Paquette said, shaking her head. "That was the joke. They lost interest as soon as they realised how difficult it was for them to profit from it. They expected me to just pluck a new resource out of thin air, like... well, this, I suppose."

"Ah, who needs 'em?" Gibraltar laughed. "We can do this on our own. If you ask me, I think it's better if they don't interfere at all."

Paquette nodded, not diverting her attention from the branthium. "Agreed."

Mary returned to her desk and flicked through something on one of her monitors. "Right, Amélie- I just need to finish up somethin' that I'm in the middle of, and then I'll catch ye up on everythin' we've been doing."

"I can catch her up." Ashleigh said quickly.

Mary smiled at her. "Oh, could ye? Thanks, dear."

She picked up the branthium sample and took it with her, beckoning for Paquette to follow. As they walked, Ashleigh noticed the geologist glance between her and Mary with an expression similar to surprise on her face.

"I'm surprised Peck hired so many physicists for this project." Paquette remarked, standing behind her at her desk. "Are you an astrophysicist as well? Like Somers?"

At least she was understated, compared to Gibraltar.

"No. My field is phase science. I was brought onto the project initially as Mary's assistant, and was kept on as I'd studied branthium for as long as she had." Ashleigh replied. (Would Paquette leave her alone if she packed as much information into her answer as possible?)

"So you're no longer Somer's assistant? And yet you're still here?" She pressed.

"Evidently. Anyway, here's our data on the branthium so far."

Ashleigh stepped aside to allow Paquette to hmm and ahh knowledgeably over the data. Also because she felt the woman's skepticism glaring through her like an x-ray. What could she have possibly done to deserve that already?

"Is there a problem?" Ashleigh asked, noticing her staring at the screen with a furrowed brow- and she needed her out of her personal space before she exploded.

"I..." Paquette glanced backwards to where Mary was deeply absorbed in her own work.

"I'm sure I'm more than qualified to help." Ashleigh said, noticing the direction of her gaze. "That's why I'm here."

"No- it's nothing." Paquette said, still eyeballing the screen.

"Just tell me what the problem is-"

"Everything alright?"

Mary must have noticed that something was off, because now she had come up behind them and was looking at the data by easily towering over Paquette's head.

Paquette's demeanour shifted instantly.

"Doctor Somers- I was just curious about this data here. Could you tell me more about your research?"

Mary smiled and squinted at the screen, blissfully unaware of Ashleigh quietly simmering with annoyance next to her.

"Aye... that one did seem a bit off, so it'd be good to have a geologist's opinion. How about we pick this up at yer desk- sorry for commandeering yer workspace, darlin'!" (That last part was directed at Ashleigh, who made a convincing attempt at a smile.)

Ashleigh's impression of Paquette as a serious and possibly rational person was immediately thrown out of the window as she watched her and Mary pore over their research- Mary and Ashleigh's research. It took her a minute to figure out exactly what she was looking at, before it hit her: fangirling.

She rolled her eyes and tried to return her focus back to her own work. At least she had another Galactic Guardian watching session with Mary to look fowards to later, which was thankful as she barely saw her for the rest of the work day- Paquette trailed after her everywhere like an imprinted animal.

"How's your new fan?"

Mary turned to her from where she'd been fully absorbed in the episode.

"Who- Amélie?"

"You didn't notice? She was just... all over you."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah. I was surprised she didn't ask for your autograph."

"I dinnae see what the problem is- she's lovely! And, er... not as in-yer-face as she could be... ah." Mary's eyes widened slightly. "This is because she kept brushin' you off, right?"

Ashleigh stayed silent- because, embarrassingly, that was entirely it.

"Right... I get it now."

"I just don't get what her problem is!" Now that Mary understood her feelings, it felt like the dam she'd been building all day had burst. "I haven't done anything to her and she already has it out for me."

It sounded so childish, saying it out loud. Had she always been this insecure? She supposed she'd never had the opportunity to be before- with the Apex Predators, she'd always known she was the best.

"Ye told her that you were initially hired as my assistant, right? Maybe that's what threw her- we all know yer great, but from an outside perspective I can understand why she'd be confused."

Trust Mary to give her the benefit of the doubt. Ashleigh knew she had a habit of jumping to the worst conclusion- so maybe she was right? She didn't like Paquette, but then again she barely liked anyone.

"Sure." She said.

"Besides, first impressions aren't everythin'! Ye probably just got off on the wrong foot."

Settling back against the arm of the sofa, Mary smiled as though all of this was the most obvious solution in the world.

"I love your optimism." Ashleigh laughed, and went cold.

But Mary didn't seem to notice how Ashleigh's mistake had made her heart beat like her very life was in danger.

"I've got enough for the both of us, dear!" She just joked, and pressed play on the next episode.

"I should go." Ashleigh said quickly. "It's getting late.

Mary checked her watch. "Aye... yer right." She paused the tv, got up from the sofa, and offered Ashleigh a hand- though Ashleigh knew that she wouldn't actually be able to pull her up.

(She still took her hand.)

"And look," she added, once Ashleigh was standing, "dinnae worry about Amélie, okay? She means well, I'm sure."

"I'm sure." Ashleigh echoed, and then grimaced when Mary's back was turned.

Because what Mary didn't know was that anyone well-meaning posed another potential obstacle for her. And she had a feeling that neutralising this particular obstacle was going to be more of a challenge than she originally assumed.

Chapter Text

To Ashleigh's credit, she did actually try to keep things civil with Paquette for the following month or so. She just made it so difficult- and over time, Ashleigh's patience had been worn down to the point that she couldn't resist a few well-placed jabs in the geologist's direction. Nothing unreasonable; after all, she had started it.

After another day of monotonous work with very little progress, Ashleigh stood in her sparse kitchen making herself some dinner. She ran over her day in her mind as she waited for her food to finish cooking: Mary had been busy with something outside Ashleigh's field, so she'd been forced to collaborate with Gibraltar all day with his work. (Honestly, though she wasn't Mary's assistant anymore, due to the project's subject matter it sometimes felt like she was shared between her and Gibraltar instead.) And then, of course, there had been at least five separate passive-aggressive exchanges with Paquette.

She grabbed her phone as it started to ring, and- Lilian? What did she want?

"Hello?"

"Hi, Ashleigh- are you in the middle of something right now?"

"Cooking..." she replied "...so, not really."

"Lovely. Look, I was just wondering- have you got an outfit sorted for my gala? I've fixed a date for December, and I was going to go shopping with Mary to find her something to wear. Would you like to come with us?"

"That... sounds like a good idea." Ashleigh admitted. (Galas were yet another thing that were definitely not in her job description.) "When would this be?"

"Are you free this Saturday?"

She didn't need to check her calendar for that one. "Should be."

"Perfect! See you then, if not before."

"Yeah. See you."

For someone who apparently spent all her time holed up in meetings on Olympus, Lilian definitely knew her way around Malta.

"Ooh... Lil..." Mary winced as she stared at the shop that they'd been directed to. "This looks a wee bit too..."

"Nonsense." Lilian said, waving her hand dismissively. "We need to look the part if we're going to attract benefactors. My treat."

She swept into the shop, Mary and Ashleigh trailing after her. Ashleigh was generally not concerned with fashion, but still couldn't help glancing around at the endless shelves and racks of incredibly expensive-looking clothes.

(It was easy to forget just how wealthy Lilian was, until moments like these- this was normal for her.)

"So, what are we looking for?" Lilian asked, turning around to face the pair. "Dresses? Suits? Something else?"

"I'm not picky." Ashleigh said quickly.

"Well, you've got lots of options here." Lilian promised. "Mary?"

Mary swung round from where she'd been inspecting some ties. "Well... I havnae worn a suit since uni..."

"It's a start! God- it has been a while, hasn't it?"

She nodded. "I would've tried harder to hold onto mine if I knew i'd be needin' it later."

They wandered around the shop until they finally found a suitable selection of suits for Mary to try. Ashleigh sat down on one of the soft benches outside the changing rooms with Lilian, while Mary took a whole armful of options to try on.

"Soo... Ashleigh." Lilian said, as they waited. "How are things?"

"Things? Things are fine."

"Mary said you two have been watching Galactic Guardian- that sounds nice."

Ashleigh peered at Lilian from the corner of her eye, but as far as she could tell there wasn't any ulterior motive to her speech. Still, she felt uneasy.

"Yeah, it's fun." She said warily. "How are... things with you?"

"Alright, thanks. At the moment I'm just trying to figure out this gala- how I can make it a little more lively, for one."

"What's the problem? The guests?"

Lilian nodded. "Dreadful people. There's a reason I put Olympus up there instead of planetside." She pointed upwards to accentuate her point.

"But you control the guest list, right? It's your gala."

"It's not that simple." Lilian sighed. "As a member of the Psamathe Council, there's certain etiquette that I have to follow. Besides, I need these people to give us money for the project, so I can't afford to offend them."

"Mm. Right."

"Ooh." Lilian's glasses glinted. "Unless."

Ashleigh raised her eyebrows. "Unless?"

"I'm in contact with lots of different labs and companies across the Outlands- why don't I see if there's any of their scientists who want an invite? It might even help us find some new recruits for Iris, and it would certainly make things more interesting!"

"That sounds like it'd work." Ashleigh agreed, nodding.

Lilian pulled out her phone to make a note of her idea. "It's decided, then. Thanks for the inspiration!"

The changing room curtain rattled as Mary swept it aside.

"What do we think? I'm not really feelin' the colour..."

Mary's suit was a very dark blue- almost black, like the night sky. And it suited her.

"I think it's nice!" Lilian said encouragingly. "Ashleigh, what do you think?"

Ashleigh could feel her face heating up.

"Yeah." She said, painfully aware of Lilian's gaze boring right through her. "Looks, uh, great."

Mary sighed. "Ah, I knew it. Well, I've got other options-" She pulled the curtain back before Ashleigh could stammer out a protest, so she turned on the culprit instead.

"You're doing it again." Ashleigh said to Lilian in a low voice.

Lilian blinked innocently. "Doing what?"

"You know what I mean. This is just like when we were on vacation!"

"I'm sorry, Ashleigh, but I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." She said, her innocent smile still fixed onto her face. "So go on- say it."

Ashleigh frowned at her own words being paraphrased back at her, and decided not to rise to the bait.

Thankfully, Mary opened the curtain again.

"How about this one?"

'This one' was turquoise, and somehow Mary managed to pull it off. Ashleigh had a sneaking suspicion that she was involuntarily making a very stupid facial expression, so she tried to rearrange her face accordingly.

"The colour's lovely!" Lilian said, filling the silence. Ashleigh nodded in agreement, slightly feverishly.

Mary echoed her head movement. "Yeah. I like it, too. I think I'll go with it!"

She quickly closed the curtain again.

Lilian turned to face Ashleigh with a smile far smugger than she'd thought she was capable of.

"Shut up." Ashleigh muttered, refusing to meet her eyes and entirely disregarding the fact that she was technically talking to her boss. "It's not-"

"Not...?"

She clamped her mouth shut, but Lilian persisted.

"I'm just a little confused. You obviously still love her, but you don't want to...?"

'Love' was far too strong a word to hear out of Lilian's mouth on this particular topic- Ashleigh blinked as if she'd been slapped.

"No." She lied, shortly. "I don't. Can we change the subject, please?"

"Alright! Sure. Sorry. Won't bring it up again."

Now Ashleigh was almost completely certain that they were both lying, but she just nodded quickly- and resolved to try and be more careful with her emotions going forwards.

Mary reappeared in her normal clothes, the chosen suit hung neatly on a hanger that she slung over her shoulder.

"Right, Ashleigh- you next." Lilian pushed her glasses higher onto her nose, causing them to shine as the lenses caught the light. "Have you decided what sort of outfit you want, yet?"

"I already said I'm not picky."

"We'll find ye somethin'!" Mary chipped in. "Trust us. We've done this before."

"Well, we're near suits- should we look at those first?" Lilian asked her, motioning to their surroundings.

"Yeah, alright."

"By the way-" Lilian said, scrutinising a row of very fancy blazers, "-do you know how to waltz? Because there will be waltzing."

Ashleigh shook her head. "No. I never learned."

"Dinnae worry! I can teach ya." Mary said instantly, flashing her a thumbs up.

"That's sorted then." Lilian caught her eye and smiled as if she could tell that Ashleigh's pulse was increasing against her will. "Any of these take your fancy?"

"They're... fine." Ashleigh said truthfully, with an exaggerated attempt at casualness to compensate. "I could wear any of those, no problem."

"Yes, but do you like any of these in particular?"

She shrugged. Then, realising that Lilian would not leave her alone until she looked at least a little more interested, she pointed at one at random.

"That one."

"Good choice!" The hanger was gently placed in her arms. "This one looks about your size, I think."

"I'll be right back." Ashleigh said- the quicker she made a choice, the quicker she could get this over with and go home.

Even the changing room was fancy. Ashleigh stared at herself in the lit-up, full-length mirror. The suit itself wasn't bad- the problem lay in the shirt. More specifically, the collar.

She tried to tug it upwards to cover her neck, but it was no use- her scar was still visible.

"Everythin' alright in there, dear?"

"It's fine." Ashleigh raised her voice so she could be heard through the thick curtain. "But I don't like the suit. I'll be out in a minute."

"Aw, cannae we at least see it?"

"No." She said, as forcefully as she could without becoming hostile. "Just... I'll be right there."

"Oh, okay!"

Her hand drifted subconsciously to her neck as she changed back into her regular clothes. She never could've foreseen how much of a problem it would become, back when she was young and reckless and living in a place where none of this mattered.

After shoving the suit back onto the hanger, Ashleigh pulled back the curtain.

"Let's look for some dresses instead." Lilian said.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was it about the suit that you disliked?" Lilian asked, as the trio walked upstairs to where the dresses were.

"The collar."

"The collar? So, what sort of collar do you like?"

Ashleigh wordlessly pointed to her turtleneck.

"Oh! Got it. I'm sure we can find something like that."

They split up. Ashleigh began sifting through the endless waves of dresses, looking for anything that would be acceptable for her to wear. After she'd done a length of one of the shop's walls she resolved to retrace her steps with slightly lower standards. And so it went on. Until-

She felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Hey, Ashleigh?" Mary held a dress draped over her arms like a weird hammock. "Would this be the sort of thing yer looking for?"

The dress, on closer inspection, was actually comprised of a regular dress with an added accessory that was somewhere between a jacket and a cardigan. This accessory had sleeves similar to her favourite lab outfit, and, most importantly, a high collar.

"I'll try it." Ashleigh said slowly, taking the dress.

She liked the dress. (Probably because it had a similar shape and style to her lab outfit.) She also liked the colours- soft blues, a little like phase energy.

"How is it?" Mary asked from the other side of the curtain.

"I'm coming out." She replied.

She felt oddly self-conscious as she pushed aside the curtain. But she tried to squash down those feelings and resume her usual unbothered facade.

Lilian looked, if she had to make a guess,  pleasantly surprised. And as for Mary... Ashleigh wracked her brain for a logical excuse as to why she was looking at her as if she was some kind of cosmic phenomenon, but drew a blank. (Beyond the reason that she couldn't help hoping for, of course.)

"So, what do you think?" Lilian prompted, glancing between her and Mary.

She nodded. "I like it. I think I'll go with this one."

"Ye look beautiful, dear." Mary said softly, smiling at her.

There was an altogether too-long silence.

"Thanks." Ashleigh finally said. "We're done here, then?"

"Yes, if you're ready." Lilian nodded, standing up from the bench. "I'll just pay for the clothes and-"

"I'm buying mine." Ashleigh cut in. "But, thanks for the offer." She added hastily, and set off towards the closest till she could see before Lilian could protest.

"Well, I cannae wait to get to wear this!" Mary laughed, swinging her bag as they all walked back to the transport station. "Might just show up in it for Monday if I get impatient."

"Come on, it's only five months! The time will just fly by." Lilian countered. "Speaking of, how is Amélie settling in? I keep meaning to check up on her, but I haven't had the time."

Ashleigh stayed silent.

"She's... fine! It's been nothing but smooth sailin' so far." Mary lied quickly, catching Ashleigh's eye. (She averted her glance.)

"Well, that's nice to hear."

Ashleigh tuned out their conversation as she slowed down her pace slightly. Her interactions with Mary were looping in her mind- the way Mary had acted was almost like their first Galactic Guardian evening, before Ashleigh had pulled away and ruined everything.

(So that meant she still...?)

What's the worst that could happen? She found herself thinking. Why can't I have both? My job, and...

Ahead of her, Mary turned back to face her and smiled, briefly. Her heart did a somersault.

And why not? She was alive; Mary was alive. Life was short, and she was a professional. Surely she could keep her work intact- in fact, it would probably benefit her to spend as much time with Mary as possible, for the sake of the mission.

This is, at least, what she told herself. Now all she had to do to figure out how to tell her.

Chapter Text

As it turned out, the real challenge proved to be working out the right time to talk to Mary. Nothing felt right- even when they were alone, something always seemed to be in her way.

Before she knew it, a month had flown by with no progress. In the meantime, their research was as slow as ever, and things with Paquette were just getting worse and worse.

Mary was humming to herself quietly as she stared at her computer with her brow furrowed.

"What's going on?" Ashleigh asked, walking over to stand next to her. "Need my help with anything?"

She shook her head. "I just... cannae work out what we're missing. It should be easier, now that there's more of us, but..."

She sighed, and looked at Ashleigh helplessly.

"What's that thing they say about cooks and broth?" Ashleigh half-joked.

"Well, it's not them that's the problem. It's this bloody branthium!"

They were now standing so close that the ends of Mary's hair were tickling her forehead. Ashleigh leaned closer to the computer on the desk to try and clear her head, but whatever Mary had been working on might as well have been some alien script as far as she was concerned. (And she could read a lot of different scripts.)

"Yeah I... I'm going to need to look at this further before I can make any sense of it." She admitted.

Mary hummed in agreement, but didn't say anything.

Ashleigh subtly assessed her situation. Her colleagues were all occupied. Mary was technically not distracted by work. It was, therefore, an optimal time to ask her:

"We've been so busy with work lately. Do you want to get some lunch at the weekend, or something?"

Lunches were good. Lunches were an appropriate setting to express ridiculous feelings and demonstrate oneself as a potentially acceptable partner.

"Ya know, dear... that might be exactly what I need."

Ashleigh was too concerned with hiding her definitely-too-red face to turn back and gauge Mary's facial expression, but she sounded happy. That had been much easier than the massive challenge that she'd built up in her mind- now that she had a hard deadline in place, everything suddenly felt much more achievable.

The rest of the day felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. What had she even been so afraid of, all this time? It felt as if nothing could ruin her mood. Not even-

"Reid."

Ashleigh turned round, to be met with- of course- Paquette.

"What are those."

She followed her gaze. "Those are... my boots? The same ones I always wear?"

Paquette frowned. "They don't seem like proper lab attire."

"Seriously? I've been working here for years with these boots, and you're the first person to give me any trouble for them. Why don't you take a look at your own shoes before getting on my case?"

So much for a good mood. Trust Paquette to ruin everything.

"My shoes are perfectly within the specification." She said stiffly. "I checked."

"Yeah?" Ashleigh shot back. "Does the specification also require your shoes to look like that, or was that just your choice?"

"You're impossible."

"I'm impossible?"

She knew that she was talking a little too loudly, but she'd been pushing down her rage at this woman for far too long- now it seemed to almost have a mind of its own.

"You've had a problem with me since the moment you showed up here! So go on- what is it?"

"That's funny-" Now Paquette's voice was raised as well "- because the way I remember it, you've been hostile to me from day one."

"Woah, bruddahs! Let's take a time out." Gibraltar said hastily, looking as if he was prepared to get between them at any moment.

Ashleigh didn't have the patience for this, or to regulate whatever came out of her mouth. "Shut it, Gibraltar." She snapped.

Paquette blinked, but she didn't seem too surprised.

"There it is." She said instead, surprisingly calm.

"Our colleagues may be taken in, but I see right through you."

This was getting ridiculous- Ashleigh found herself laughing.

"Really? What do you see, then? Because the way I see it, everything was fine until you arrived."

Mary had stayed silent through all of this- but she was on her side, right? Ashleigh was about to catch her eye when Paquette started talking again.

"Nothing about you makes sense. You're not qualified for this job. You're incredibly defensive to the point of being volatile. I don't like your boots. Also, you seem to love antagonising me- and Gibraltar, occasionally- for no reason at all. Have I missed anything?"

"I don't know, have you? Do you judge everyone here, or is it just me?"

"Only the people with something to judge." Paquette responded smugly, and Ashleigh internally praised her self restraint at not slapping the expression right off her face.

"Very high-and-mighty for someone who squints at rocks all day."

It was a cheap shot- she knew that- but Paquette had already worn her patience thin.

Now she finally had the opportunity to glance back at Mary- and the sight she was met with made her freeze.

She recognised the expression, but it wasn't anything that Mary usually directed towards her.

Instead, it was disappointment.

Chapter Text

"Alright." Mary said, catching Ashleigh just before she left the lab. They'd barely spoken all day since her argument with Paquette. "What was that."

"What was what?" Ashleigh stepped away to release Mary's grip on her shoulder, which didn't take much effort.

"Ye ken." She exhaled heavily. "The argument."

"It's exactly what you said. An argument." Ashleigh shrugged. "That's all."

"No, that's not all! You two have been at each others' throats for weeks now, and I'm bloody sick of it!"

Ashleigh almost flinched in surprise. Noticing this, Mary softened her tone slightly.

"Look. I get that ye dinnae like each other, but yer makin' an impossible working environment! Could ya at least try to get on with her?"

"Try telling that to Paquette." She muttered darkly.

Mary pressed her lips into a thin line and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Then, her eyes snapped open.

"I've got it!"

"...You do?" Ashleigh looked at her skeptically.

"We'll invite her to lunch with us, to smooth things over before they get any worse. Aleki too, so it's less weird."

Ashleigh hated this idea already, but she conceded for the time being.

"When would this happen?"

"Saturday, of course! We're already gettin' lunch then, remember?"

As if she'd forgotten.

"Ach, dinnae look like that." Mary continued, noting- and misreading- her expression. "It'll be quick. We should get it over with as soon as possible, before you two start physically fightin' or something."

"Fine." She said shortly. "You're right."

Mary smiled. "Thanks, darlin'."

Ashleigh steeled herself outside the nice café that she'd planned to go to with Mary, and nobody else.

"Ashleigh!" Gibraltar called from behind her. She pretended not to hear him until he walked up right next to her and she was forced to acknowledge his presence.

"Ashleigh!" He said again. "Hey, you're here early. I thought I'd be the first here!"

"Well, you're not." She said, and pretended that she had a very important email on her phone to avoid further conversation.

This did not deter him.

"Really nice of you and Mary to invite us for lunch again- I always forget to suggest somethin' for us all to do."

"Unfortunate."

Thankfully, she was rescued by someone else arriving. She turned around, expecting to see Mary- but it was Paquette. Of course.

Ashleigh remembered her promise to Mary, and therefore decided that the best course of action was simply to ignore Paquette. That way, there was no chance at all of her being tempted into an argument with her.

"Hello, Aleki." She said, positioning herself so that Gibraltar formed a kind of barrier between them.

"Hey Am!"

(She had a nickname now?)

Ashleigh resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she tuned out their conversation. When was Mary going to get here?

"Have you heard from Mary?" Gibraltar asked, turning to her a few minutes later.

Ashleigh shook her head. "I'll call her."

"Sorry!" Mary said through her phone's speaker a minute later. "I was droppin' Newtie off at Mum's house. I'm just on my way now."

"Okay."

"Everythin' alright with the other two?" She added, in a quieter voice.

"Fine so far." Ashleigh replied, glancing subtly back at the other scientists to make sure they weren't listening. "But how far are you?"

"Passin' the labs, so... a couple minutes' walk."

"Can you sprint?" She half-joked.

Mary laughed. "Not makin' any promises, dear. I'm sure ye can hang in there 'til I arrive, right?"

"We'll find out."

"See ya in a minute, then,  darlin'- I dinnae think talking is helping my pace."

"Probably not. Bye."

She turned back to the others- Paquette was looking at her with her eyebrows raised expectantly.

"She'll be here in a minute."

Gibraltar nodded. "Right. Should we get a table? There's no point in just standin' out here until she gets here."

"Sure." Ashleigh said, and followed him and Paquette inside.

The group found a table of four in the corner- Ashleigh sat opposite to Paquette and Gibraltar, making sure to save the seat next to her for Mary.

The doors swung open after a few minutes of tactfully avoiding interacting with the two scientists.

"Sorry I'm late!" Mary announced, rushing up to them. "Hope I didnae keep ye long."

"It's no problem." Paquette smiled.

After everyone had bought their food, they sat back down.

"So, Amélie!" Mary said. "How're you and Emile settlin' in?"

"Very well, thank you." She replied. "It was very generous of Peck to offer him a position here as well."

"Ah, Lil's always on the lookout for more scientists! We're very lucky to have ye both."

Paquette nodded. "I'm grateful for the opportunity. However, I can't help but miss Gaea at the same time- the landscapes on that planet..." She smiled wistfully.

"I get it!" Gibraltar agreed. "My family's been on Solace since the Outlands was first settled. I can't wait to visit again."

"What about you, Somers?" Paquette asked.

"Oh- I'm just from Psamathe." Mary said, shrugging. "It's not the same for me."

"Well, you should definitely visit Gaea when you have the chance." Paquette said quickly.

"I have, actually! We went on holiday last year- near the Antaeus mountains. And yer right, it is gorgeous."

"Antaeus? I actually used to live around there."

Mary laughed. "We could've run into each other!"

"Imagine." Ashleigh said quietly.

Paquette raised her eyebrows. "Oh, you were there too?"

She nodded. "It was a great trip."

That appeared to be the limit of conversation that she could reach without things escalating into a full-scale argument. Ashleigh decided to try and keep her mouth shut and let Mary do the talking for the remainder of the lunch.

Paquette had other ideas.

"And you, Reid?" She asked, continuing the earlier conversation. "I don't know anything about you."

(What story was she using this time? She took a long sip of her drink to stall while it came back to her.)

"I'm not tied to a specific place." She began, casually. "I moved a lot, even as a kid- it was just what my parents' jobs demanded."

"Oh, what do they do?"

"They were consultants." Ashleigh lied quickly. "Both of them."

She hoped that her use of the past tense would force Paquette to back off- and she appeared to be right.

"I see." She simply said. "That must've been interesting."

"It was."

"Do you have a favourite planet?"

(Was she interrogating her, or just trying to be polite? It was impossible to tell, but Ashleigh suspected the former.)

"Angelia." That was a safe option- and it was almost true. "I went to college in Angel City, so I spent a lot of time there."

Paquette nodded, apparently satisfied. "Angel City... Suotamo is meant to resemble it, right?"

"I have heard that." Ashleigh said drily. (She didn't want to have this conversation again.)

"Hm. It sounds like you've had a very eventful life."

"Aye! She's always tellin' me such interesting stories." Mary jumped in, sparing her from having to improvise any further.

Ashleigh shot her a grateful glance.

"You'll have to share them sometime, then." Paquette finally said, settling back in her chair.

The following look that she and Ashleigh shared ensured that they both knew they had absolutely no intention of ever doing that.

Now that Mary had resumed control of the conversation, Ashleigh had been spared from having to interact further with her least favourite geologist.

All she had to do was focus on her lunch and avoid provoking Paquette. She'd assumed she had been doing an excellent job of just that, until she noticed Paquette's eyes on her from across the table.

"What?" She asked, in the most non-confrontational way she could manage.

"I was going to ask the same thing. Is there a problem?"

"Why would there be?"

"You're looking at me like there is one."

Ashleigh felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Ashleigh just looks like that!" Mary said quickly. "She's got a bit of a resting bitch face- no offence, dear." (Ashleigh was too numb with trying not to react to Paquette to react to that) "I promise ye, she doesnae mean anythin' by it. Right, Ashleigh?"

"Right."

As soon as Gibraltar finished his sandwich, they could leave, and she could forget this entire thing had even happened. And then she'd have to plan another time to talk to Mary. Which was fine.

Paquette shook her head slightly in surprise.

"Really? I thought you'd been glaring at me all afternoon."

"Why would I possibly do that?" Ashleigh replied, with just a tiny bit more snark than she'd intended.

"I don't know, why would you?"

Gibraltar stood up from his chair abruptly. "All done- ready to go, bruddahs?"

Paquette ignored him. She sat motionless, looking at Ashleigh as if she was the branthium sample that now lived almost permanently on her desk.

Ashleigh felt her eye twitch.

"That... isn't your normal resting face." Paquette said finally. "I've seen your normal resting face, and this is even worse."

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" She snapped, before she could stop herself.

"I think we should go..." Mary said pointedly, mirroring Gibraltar in standing up.

"No." Paquette said, though it was unclear who exactly she was responding to.

"No?"

"No, Reid." She clarified. "You're not as subtle as you think."

"Oh, this again?"

Paquette's voice remained as frustratingly level as ever. Ashleigh tried to make hers do the same, but she could feel herself fast losing control of her patience.

"I know you're hiding something." She continued. "That's why you have a problem with me."

"Is that why you've been interrogating me? What could you possibly think I have to hide?"

Paquette said nothing, and just studied her.

That was it- she couldn't take it anymore.

Ashleigh stood up, her chair screeching across the floor behind her, and stormed out of the café before anyone else could speak.

She'd been ignoring the banging on her door for about five minutes now.

"Ashleigh, please can we just talk?"

(If she'd known it was Mary earlier, she would have already let her in.)

Feeling slightly sheepish now, she left her room and went to open her front door.

"Are ye alright, dear?"

"Honestly? No."

"Can I come in?"

She noticed how Mary tried to surreptitiously glance around as she followed Ashleigh into her living room. It struck her that she'd never invited her round before.

Ashleigh didn't want to think about what she must've thought about her living room: almost as sparse as when she'd moved in, with the exception of the large play pen for her rat that covered most of the floor; a few photographs- either of her rats or herself and the Somers family; and her PhD certificate, which was framed on her wall. (Her Pilot certification, on the other hand, was in a sealed box underneath the bookcase in her room.)

"So..." Mary said, after they'd both sat down on Ashleigh's sofa. "That didnae go exactly as planned."

Ashleigh shook her head.

"And, look, Ashleigh-" To her absolute surprise, Mary took one of her hands in hers, and shifted around on the sofa to face her. "-Ye weren't exactly helping things."

"Helping things?" She echoed incredulously. "Paquette was-"

"I ken! I ken- I was there. She was tryin' to get on yer nerves the whole time."

"So why aren't you telling this to her?"

"Because I know you, Ashleigh. This isnae like ye!"

(It was so nice that Mary seemed to genuinely believe that. Unfortunately, Ashleigh was far too blindsided to fully reflect on it in that moment.)

"I'm not the problem here." She insisted. "It's Paquette."

"Aye, but yer reactions to her always end up escalatin' the situation. I get that she's gettin' under yer skin with the whole suspicion thing, but yer only givin' her more reason to act like that every time ya storm out of a café!"

"So you're saying it's my fault?"

(What was she doing?! She didn't want to argue with Mary! And yet here she was.)

"I'm sayin'." Mary said, slightly tersely, "That the way yer acting is only making the situation worse. She thinks there's something off about ye, and you're not doin' much to prove her wrong at the moment!"

Ashleigh moved her hand away.

"I ken she was being difficult, but I was hoping you'd be able to clear the situation up today. Instead, I cannae even imagine what the lab will be like on Monday!"

"Do you agree with her?" Ashleigh asked, slowly.

Mary sighed. "I just... I think..."

"Think what?" She pressed, anxiously.

"At the moment, I'm startin' to think she's right." Mary said, finally. "Not completely! Just- yer so defensive- it's a bit..."

Noticing what must have been her expression, she continued hurriedly-

"Ye ken I'd never ask you to share somethin' yer not comfortable sharin'. And if there's stuff ye dinnae want to talk about, that's fine! It's just-"

"-You're taking her side." Ashleigh interrupted.

There was a silence. Mary's face was flushed; Ashleigh imagined that hers must've looked similar.

"I'm not takin' sides." She said, in a low voice. Ashleigh had never heard her like this before. "I just thought ye could clear up whatever's goin' on, instead of-"

She cut herself off abruptly, and stood up.

"I need to get back to Newton. If we cannae discuss this like adults, then I suppose I'll see ya on Monday."

"Fine." Ashleigh said.

She didn't move until after Mary had left.  After locking the door, she returned to her room and let Prowler out of his cage.

How could Mary side with Paquette? She knew how she always went out of her way to antagonise her. Even worse, if Paquette caused Mary to suspect her of anything...

"What am I meant to do now?" She asked Prowler.

Of course, being a rat, Prowler did not respond.

Chapter Text

This had been a mistake. Ashleigh knew that now.

Why had she been so stupid? She was better than this. She'd put her entire career at risk for the sake of one woman- a woman who now wanted nothing to do with her.

"Should've just killed her at the black hole." She muttered, only half thinking.

Saying it out loud felt like stabbing herself, even with no other humans in the room. Prowler looked at her from his cage with judgemental little eyes.

What was she meant to do now? Because, of course, she didn't want that. She supposed she should've seen this coming- even the best liars couldn't keep it up forever. Mary was always going to find out her true nature sooner or later.

It has all been so simple when Mary was just another target. Ashleigh still remembered the day she'd called her to tell her she'd got the job. Back then, her demeanour had been irritating, and she couldn't even begin to imagine how painful the thought of hurting her would later become.

She shook her head as she got ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow, she'd figure out what to do from here- now that she'd apparently ruined things with Mary forever.

Now that it was getting colder, Ashleigh had begun to shift back to wearing her thicker turtlenecks. Despite this, the cherry blossoms seemed to be as vibrant as ever.

At work, she resolved to keep her head down and avoid any further interactions with Paquette. But to her surprise, Paquette seemed to be avoiding her as well.

There was a strange atmosphere in the lab that day: Gibraltar was quieter, Paquette didn't bother her, and Mary wasn't there at all.

(In other words, it was the best work day Ashleigh had had since she'd returned from space.)

What was strange was how neither of the other scientists had questioned Mary's absence. Ashleigh checked her phone to see if she'd missed anything, but there was nothing.

She tried to call her after work, but she wasn't picking up. Now Ashleigh began to worry- was this her fault? Had their argument somehow lead to some accident? Or was she just ignoring her?

As she still hadn't decided what to do about her most recent problem, she decided to call Lilian instead, to see if she knew what happened to Mary. (But, she reasoned, surely Lilian would take Mary's side and therefore Paquette's? Without Mary, Ashleigh was completely alone on Olympus.)

So she headed home, on her own.

Her phone rang a little later. Ashleigh reached for it, hoping to see Mary's name flash across the screen, but it was Lilian.

"Is now a good time?" Lilian asked her. She spoke softer than her customary phone voice.

"Depends. What's this about?"

"You know..." She said, in the same tone.

(Ah. Had Mary asked her to pass on a message? So much for discussing things like adults.)

"This is about Mary, right?" Ashleigh tried to maintain a measured tone.

"Right. I... just wanted to check in and see how you were doing, since you haven't been back at the lab long." She said hesitantly.

Ashleigh narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Uh, well, it's just because you've been, ah, recovering for a while-"

"Recovering?"

"Ashleigh, are you alright?" There was a note of worry in Lilian's voice, and it was making her concerned as well.

"Just- remind me what I'm recovering from, exactly?"

"The... accident." Lilian's voice was barely above a whisper.

(Accident?!)

"Lilian, if this is a joke, it's not-"

"I wouldn't joke about something like this."

This, at least, Ashleigh knew was true.

"Fine. What... was the accident?"

She knew, somehow, before Lilian spoke. But that couldn't be right. She'd prevented this. She wouldn't have let this happen-

Shit. Not again.

Ashleigh felt cold as she woke up, and tried to brush away the hair that was sticking to her forehead with sweat.

She exhaled in relief as she noted the date: still Sunday. She still had time to figure out what to do about Mary.

Her dream had been wrong in most respects, but the fact that that life without Mary left her completely alone was definitely accurate. All her best memories were of her. She- she tried to avoid the word when she could- but she loved her.

She remembered when the realisation had first hit her. It had been a normal work day, and Ashleigh had found herself laughing. She couldn't remember what exactly it was; only that she felt so much lighter than she'd ever felt around another person. By this point she'd already reluctantly accepted that she enjoyed Mary'd company, but at that time she'd assumed she was coming down with something.

But that day in the lab... everything fell into place. For a beautiful moment, it felt like when she'd gotten her first glasses prescription and realised what she'd been missing out on all those years. Once she'd realised how she really felt about Mary, accepting that she just liked being around her suddenly became a lot easier. Even though she couldn't imagine her feelings being reciprocated to any degree, finally being able to understand her emotions towards her was enough.

And then the fear came, as soon as Ashleigh remembered who she was, and why Mary was the one person she could never- love. But no matter how much she'd tried to repress her feelings, they'd never gone away.

Then came the day that she finally gave in. And now she was here.

Had it all been for nothing?

No. Ashleigh found herself thinking. She'd got herself this far. Surely this couldn't be it already? There had to be a way out of this.

The solution was clear now: she needed to talk to Mary.

She hadn't realised how much it was raining until she stepped outside. But it was too late to get her coat- she was on a mission.

Her boots squelched through the soft grass plates as she marched herself to Mary's apartment- by this point, she barely had to think about the route, nor about how long it took to walk there.

Ashleigh tried to fix her hair before she knocked on Mary's door, as the heavy rain had soaked it into a lanky sheet. She settled for brushing it out of her face with her hands and positioning it out of the way, behind her neck.

She just needed to get this over with. She knew that.

(And the longer she stood there, the more soaked she became.)

After involuntarily shuddering at the chill from the rain, Ashleigh decided that pneumonia would be just as bad as Mary's rejection.

So she rang the doorbell.

Mary's eyes widened as she took in her disheveled ex-assistant.

"Ashleigh? How long have ya been out here?"

"Not long." Ashleigh replied truthfully. "I walked."

"I... can see that. Look, come inside, before ye catch somethin'!"

She blinked, stunned. "Really?"

"Whatever yer here for, I dinnae want you gettin' sick over it." Mary pushed the door open and motioned for her to come in. "We'll talk inside."

Embarrassingly, Ashleigh found herself wrapped in a large, fluffy towel on Mary's sofa. This somewhat diminished the impression that she was going for, but she was shivering too much to want to shed it.

"I just wanted to say..." Ashleigh swallowed, and tried to fix her eyes anywhere but Mary's own. (What did she want to say?)

"I'm... uh... sorry." She finally managed. (Because she was, wasn't she? Not for arguing with Paquette, but for arguing with Mary. And for the thoughts that she'd voiced, alone, in her room.)

"Aye, well, I'm sorry too." Mary said quietly. "I ken how Amélie's antagonisin' ya. I'm sorry that I made it seem like I was against ye- 'cause I'd never want to do that."

(Was this really all she had to do? What had she been so afraid of?! Her own apology now looked third-rate in comparison.)

"Thanks." Ashleigh mumbled. "I don't want to do that, either."

Mary smiled, and reached over to gently pat Ashleigh's knee, buried under a layer of towel.

"Dinnae apologise for that, darlin'. Let's just try and be on the same side goin' forwards, aye?"

Ashleigh nodded vaguely. Her mind was elsewhere- because now she knew what she needed to do, for Mary's sake.

"Helloo? Psamathe to Ashleigh?" Mary joked, noting her distance. "Are ye still with us?"

She nodded again.

"Yeah."

"Everythin' alright, then?"

Ashleigh took a breath and steeled herself for the inevitable.

"I'm going to try and make peace with Paquette." She said, grimly. "For real, this time."

Chapter Text

Mary sat back in surprise.

"Yer- really?"

She nodded. "It's stupid to carry this thing on any longer."

(Besides- she liked Mary far more than she hated Paquette.)

"Well," Mary said, "I'm glad to hear it."

Ashleigh pulled the towel tighter around herself- her hair dripped pathetically onto the soft fabric.

Mary stood up, and hovered by the door to the hallway. This must be her cue to leave.

Quickly, she wrung out her hair to the best of her ability, and folded the heavy towel as she stood.

"Oh- no- I didnae mean-" Mary said quickly. Ashleigh sat back down, perplexed. "I was just wonderin' if you wanted to use my hair dryer. And some tea- I'll put the kettle on."

"I'm fine- I don't want to be any trouble." Ashleigh said reflexively, though tea and a hair dryer did sound like exactly what she needed. Still, she'd suffered through worse, and she'd rehearsed enough Psamathe etiquette to know what the polite thing to do was.

Mary shook her head. "Not at all! I hate to see ye looking so cold. The dryer's in my room- just could ye please close the door if yer using it?"

That was a lot of information to take in at once.

"Sure." Ashleigh nodded. "I'll be as quiet as I can."

"Thanks- I cannae have Newton take after my sleep schedule!"

"One of you is bad enough. Thank you."

Mary's room was pretty easy to discern by elimination: it wasn't the kitchen, nor the bathroom, nor the room with posters of rockets and prowlers stuck all over the door.

Inside- Ashleigh reminded herself to stay on task- it was messy. To the untrained eye, it could have easily been mistaken for an oversize storage cupboard.

After scanning her eyes around the cluttered room, Ashleigh eventually identified her hair dryer, plugged in at the wall next to her charging laptop (which had gained even more stickers since their space trip) and a myriad of other random devices and items.

Mary's room was basically the opposite of hers- as she walked over to retrieve the dryer, she caught her eye on the countless photos dotted around her walls. Most were of Newton, predictably. Others were of Lilian, or her parents, or siblings. There were even some of her. Recent ones, of course, but also photos going back to when she'd first started working for her.

She couldn't put a finger on it, but something about her in those photos looked different to the face that met her in the mirror every morning.

A droplet of water running down her nose returned her attention to the task at hand. After trying to halfheartedly run her fingers through her hair in an attempt to comb it, she decided to just get it over with and dry her hair.

This was fine. She'd brush her hair when she got home. It didn't matter that it was a bird's nest. It was completely fine that she'd have to interact with Mary like this before she left.

(She'd seen Mary with her hair in a state countless times before, but this was different. She had a reputation!)

Someone knocked softly at the door.

"Ashleigh? Tea's ready- you alright in there?"

"My hair just takes a while to dry." She replied truthfully from the other side of the door.

"That makes sense. Part of the reason why I keep mine on the sort side, honestly. Oh- d'ya need a hairbrush, by the way?"

"Yes." Ashleigh said quickly. "Please."

"There should be one on my... dressing table, I think? Or drawers. Maybe my chair." She paused. "It's somewhere."

"I'm sure I'll find it."

"'Kay- tea's getting cold, so dinnae take too long!"

"I won't."

The hairbrush was actually in none of the places Mary had guessed- rather, it was unceremoniously left on her desk, lost in a pile of papers with her familiar handwriting scribbled all over.

She left it on her dressing table in what she hoped was plain sight.

Mary had left her a mug of tea on the living room table.

"Thanks for the hairbrush." Ashleigh said as she walked in. "I left it on the dressing table."

"No problem, dear!" Mary sat on the sofa sipping from her own mug. (This one said 'I <3 science'.)

She sat down next to her after collecting the mug- though the tea was still a little too hot to drink. Instead, she decided to voice one of the most pressing thoughts on her mind at that moment:

"Do you think Paquette will accept my apology?"

Mary hummed thoughtfully. "Are ye actually sorry?"

She hesitated. (No.)

"...Probably not, then. But, hey, at least it'll give her less fuel for goin' after you in the future!"

Ashleigh shrugged. "If it gets her off my back."

"It'll be a start." Mary said.

After she'd finished the tea, she put the mug down on the table and got up.

"Thanks for the tea. And for... hearing me out."

"I'm glad ya stopped by!" Mary mirrored her movement to prepare to show her out.

She opened the door to rain. Heavy rain- perhaps even worse than when she'd walked over. A strong wind was forcing it inside Mary's apartment, where it speckled persistently onto her floor.

Mary's eyebrows scrunched together in visible concern.

"Are ya sure ye want to go out in that? You didnae bring a coat, did ye?"

"What other choice do I have?" Ashleigh adjusted her turtleneck and prepared to leave. "It's just some rain."

A resounding echo rang through the sky.

"We weren't forecasted a storm today." Mary noted. "I... I'm not sure if it's safe for ye to be walking around in that."

Ashleigh looked over at her. "What would you suggest instead?"

She shrugged. "I guess it's either my sofa or that storm. Pick yer poison."

Truth be told, Ashleigh didn't particularly want to have to walk back to her apartment in this storm. And if Mary was offering...

"Sofa sounds good. Thanks."

"Phew. Alright. I'll find ye some blankets and a pillow."

Ashleigh sat there like a lemon until Mary returned.

"Thanks... again." She said, awkwardly. Mary waved her off.

"Och, no, I'd feel awful if ye were out in that! Have a good sleep, darlin'."

For once, she drifted off almost immediately after shutting her eyes.

"Doctor Reid? Why are you on the sofa?!"

Ashleigh opened her eyes and was immediately face-to-face with a very curious seven year old, who was gawping at her like she was an exhibit in the prowler museum.

"I came over to visit your mother last night-" She explained, shifting herself so she was upright on the sofa. "- but there was a storm. She let me stay here so I didn't have to walk back."

"Ohhhh. What about Prowler?"

"He's at my apartment. I fed him before I left, don't worry."

Newton nodded, satisfied.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for school right now?" Ashleigh checked her watch.

He shrugged. "I guess. Are you gonna stay for breakfast?"

Ashleigh shook her head. "I've taken up enough of your mother's time already."

"Aww." Newton pulled a face. "Okay."

About ten minutes later, Ashleigh found herself at the Somers' breakfast table, with a bowl of bran flakes placed carefully in front of her.

"Did ye sleep well, dear?"

"Great." Ashleigh nodded. "Your couch is very comfortable."

Mary glanced at her watch. "I've gotta take Newtie to school in fifteen minutes or so- that alright?"

Ashleigh nodded again. "I need to go back and take care of Prowler, anyway."

"Oh- right! Forgot about him."

Mary sat down at the table- next to Ashleigh, Newton had almost finished his cereal already.

Mary stirred the cereal around in her bowl.

"Ye ken, until you suggested the name, I hadn't tried bran flakes." She said thoughtfully.

"Hm?"

"The name! Bran-thium."

"Oh!" Ashleigh said in genuine surprise.

(This was not her intention behind her choice of name.)

"You called it branthium 'cos of bran flakes?!" Newton asked, turning to her with wide eyes.

"Uh... no. That's just a coincidence."

Ashleigh knew that he wouldn't leave the topic alone until she provided a satisfactory explanation, so she continued: "It can translate to 'beacon', among other things. I thought it was fitting."

(That was, at least, the explanation she had given to Mary when she'd first pitched the idea.)

"That's less cool." Newton admitted.

"It also can translate to 'sword'?" She offered quickly, which seemed to be suitably cool for his standards.

"Swords." Mary shook her head and smiled as Newton ran off to put on his shoes. "I should've known."

"Hey, the beacon thing was my main reason!" She said defensively. (It was almost true, too.)

"If ye say so." Mary stood up from the table and collected both their bowls. "I need to head out now- see ya at work?"

"See you there." Ashleigh agreed.

Between their respective detours, she and Mary actually arrived at work at around the same time.

"You ready?"

Ashleigh rested a hand over the pocket of her lab dress where Prowler was comfortably snoozing.

"Ready."

Paquette was already buried in her work when the two physicists stepped inside.

"Paquette." Ashleigh began, walking up to stand just behind her.

She looked around irritably. "Yes?"

"I'm..."

Ashleigh was a great liar! She could pull this off, no problem!

"...sorry about how we got off on the wrong foot."

Paquette blinked at her as if Ashleigh had reached out and chopped her hand off without warning.

"It wasn't my intention to antagonise you, and I will try my best not to do so in future."

Now Paquette was looking at her like she'd just grown an extra head. Ashleigh resisted the urge to laugh.

"I.......... accept your apology." She said finally. "Thank you, Reid."

(Ashleigh noted that Paquette did not see fit to return the apology, but she decided to ignore that for now.)

Because, whether Paquette knew it or not, she'd won. By making a public 'apology', if Paquette tried to have a go at her again she'd just appear completely irrational to her colleagues. Provided that Ashleigh was civil to her going forwards. She decided she could manage that.

"I'd say that was a success!"

It was time for another Galactic Guardian watching session. Mary grinned at her, all traces of disappointment from the other day now completely evaporated.

"I try." Ashleigh said lightly. She could feel her face heating up, despite her best efforts.

Not even a week ago, she'd resolved to confess her feelings to Mary. But now? It was too soon after their argument. She'd only just gotten back to a good place with Mary- she didn't want to lose that again so soon.

So she'd find another time. She had all the time in the world.

"Mum? Doctor Reid?"

The pair turned round as the door creaked open.

"Newtie? It's late, petal."

"Can't sleep." He said sadly. "I really tried!"

"I'm sure ye did." Mary patted the space in the middle of the sofa. "How about watchin' some Galactic Guardian with us until you feel sleepy?"

"Really?!"

He practically sprinted over to settle down between them.

"Let's see if ya like it- I think yer old enough now."

"I am." He nodded enthusiastically.

"You sure this'll help him sleep?" Ashleigh asked- as he looked even less tired than he had a few minutes ago.

Mary shrugged a little. "You'd be surprised."

Newton did, in fact, fall asleep halfway through the next episode. Ashleigh gingerly lifted herself off the sofa as the credits played in order to not disturb him.

"See you tomorrow, darlin'!" Mary whispered as she left. "Love ya."

(She really should've been used to that by now.)

Ashleigh nodded in response. "I-"

(She had all the time in the world for this. And she'd already had enough excitement for one day.)

"-I'll see you then. Night, Mary."

Chapter Text

It had been a while since Ashleigh had had to check in with the Predators. After everything that had happened, the summer felt like years ago.

Just as she had done countless times before, she followed the regular procedure to phone up her superiors. Prowler sat flopped over her knee, and she idly stroked his ear with one finger as she waited for someone to pick up.

"Reid. How much longer is this going to take?"

"Hello to you as well." She muttered. (It was a relief to finally redirect all the pent-up stress and irritation she'd been feeling towards an acceptable target.)

"Just-" Her superior held back a sigh "-tell me what progress has been made."

Ashleigh shifted herself so that she was lying down on her bed, facing away from her window.

"Gibraltar has returned to Olympus, and another new scientist has been hired. A geologist. Neither of them suspect me, of course- I've been extremely careful."

(Correction- she was being careful now. After the Paquette incident, Ashleigh had gone to great pains to avoid any further altercations over the months that followed.)

"Good. And the progress?"

"Slow." She said, truthfully.

"How slow?"

"Science takes time, you know. Especially a project like this."

"Can you give me an estimate?"

"Let me think."

Ashleigh was the only person on Olympus that could report back to the Apex Predators. Therefore, they had no choice to take her word as fact.

There was no reason to rush things. If she wanted to make the most of her time with Mary, she needed to stall for as long as she could before they got suspicious.

Could she really do this? Keeping Mary alive was already a risk as it is, but  defying the Predators was what people did when they were after a very efficient suicide. But, she reasoned, as long as she still pulled off her job by the end... (Because she had to, didn't she? She had to finish the job eventually.)

She'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

"Six years." She said, confident in her absolute bullshit. "Give or take."

"You're sure?"

"I can't give you an exact date, but that's what I'd bet."

There was a silence from the other end of the line. For a moment, Ashleigh felt paranoid that they'd begun to see through her, before they simply said:

"If that's what it takes. At least the pay will be worth it when this shit's finally over."

"M-hm." (She couldn't deny it- the client had offered a ridiculous sum for this job.)

"You're going to the gala then, right?" They continued.

"Oh- yes. That's tomorrow."

"We know. I expect you'll be spending a lot of time with your pet physicist?"

Ashleigh's entire body felt cold. Prowler shuffled up to reach her repositioned hand for more ear scratches, and she found that she could breathe again. She just hoped that she hadn't hesitated for too long.

"...Keeping her alive was the right decision." She said, in as flat a voice as she could manage.

Her superior laughed suddenly.

"God, Reid- you need to learn how to take a joke."

"Right." Ashleigh exhaled, and relaxed- though she could still hear her pulse pounding in her head. "Right, of course."

"You're lucky, you know. I wish I got sent on vacations like this."

Ashleigh almost laughed in surprise- and relief at the change of subject. "Believe me, this is not a vacation! This is exhausting."

"Yeah, well, I'd still take it over the shit going down back here."

"Oh?"

"Some upstart wannabes keep going after our mercenaries. It's mostly a nuisance, but it's been getting worse recently- a few of our pilots were killed last week."

"Huh. Glad that's not my problem."

"If this job takes as long as you said, it probably won't be. Enjoy the gala-  just remember what I said."

"Could you be more specific?"

"You know what I mean. Long-term infiltration missions always come with the risk of the merc going off the rails. Even if they don't mean to, sometimes it can happen without them even realising, and with a cushy position like yours-"

"-I'm not getting attached." Ashleigh insisted in a low voice. Her mouth felt dry- evidently, she hadn't thrown them off her scent after her last report as effectively as she'd thought. 

"-Just make sure you keep sight of your real objective." They finished.

"That goes without saying. Is there anything else?"

"Nothing else. Update us in half a year unless there's significant progress in the meantime."

"Understood."

She hung up, and focused her attention on the dress hanging up on the wall facing her bed. A few years ago, she'd never imagined herself wearing something like that.

Tomorrow was the gala. Tomorrow she'd talk to potential benefactors, and eat nice canapés, and dance.

And tomorrow- Ashleigh decided- she'd finally talk to Mary.

Before it was too late.

Chapter Text

"Sorry, Ashleigh- I just dinnae feel the same way."

"I'm not interested in ye like that, dear."

"Did ya really think I'd like you?"

The transport trip down to Malta felt longer than usual. Ashleigh stared at her reflection in the window while Mary chatted to the other two scientists, as well as Paquette's husband, who was also travelling with them.

She was not looking forwards to this gala. All she could think about was every single way it could go wrong. There was no way to guarantee that she was right about how Mary felt towards her- what would she do if she rejected her? Why had she been so certain that this would work?

"...Well, I am excited to meet those scientists that Lil invited!" Mary was saying. Her suit was so vibrant that Ashleigh actually had to avert her eyes a little- otherwise, she'd just be staring again. "Didn't she say one of 'em is a phase scientist?"

This question appeared to be directed towards Ashleigh, so she shrugged.

"She might've said that- I don't remember."

"Hmm." Mary crossed over her legs and leaned back in her seat.

"What are these galas usually like?" Emile- Ashleigh was forced to refer to him by his first name, as she refused to do the same for his wife- asked.

The small carriage fell silent as Mary and Gibraltar both hoped the other would come up with a more tactful response.

"...Stuffy." Gibraltar finally said. Mary nodded in agreement.

"You'll see." She added. "From experience, it's better to stick by the refreshments. The guests with some food and alcohol in 'em tend to be more easygoing."

"I see." Emile nodded. "Thank you!"

Being Psamathe's best known city, Malta naturally had plenty of good party venues to pick from. (Though Ashleigh also suspected that not wanting certain billionaires setting foot on her passion project was another factor into Lilian's decision to hold her gala planetside.)

Mary stuck close by her as they entered- Ashleigh felt her looming over her even before she angled her gaze upwards.

She cleared her throat. "So, ye ken how I mentioned-"

But before Mary could continue, a distinct ringing noise sounded from somewhere in front of them. Even without craning her neck to see through the crowds of guests, she could tell it was Lilian.

"Good evening, everyone!" She called. The soft din of chatter quietened instantly.

"I'm so happy to see you all. As you may know, this gala is in support of Project Iris, but there are further causes that also need your generous support. Also, we have genuine champagne from Earth, along with an assortment of other rare wines for you to sample from today."

That, at least, seemed to get more of the guest's attention. Lilian seemed to know from experience what their real priorities were.

As she spoke, Ashleigh felt someone's eyes on her from the crowd. She tried to surreptitiously glance around, and- yes, there was someone watching her. She wouldn't have thought anything of it if the woman didn't look vaguely familiar. Maybe it was some scientist that she'd spotted on Olympus once and then hadn't thought about since? Perhaps that was it. Still, her instincts prevented her from brushing the paranoia off so easily.

"...and enjoy the gala!"

The massive room exploded back into noise as Lilian's speech finished. Ashleigh turned to Mary, who was pushing up the sleeves of her blazer.

"I'm gonna go talk to some billionaires."

Ashleigh nodded. "I guess that's why we're here. Do you think we'd be more efficient if we split up?"

"Aye, I think so. Meet at the canapé table in thirty?"

"We'll need them." She agreed.

After walking around and trying to get her bearings for a bit, Ashleigh decided to take Mary's earlier advice and try and catch someone by the (very long) beverage table.

A man stood on his own, carefully swirling a glass of wine in a controlled circular motion next to his ear.

Ashleigh cleared her throat gently and the man looked up.

"What does it sound like?" She asked, trying to relax into a light, but interested, expression.

"There's notes of summer fruits." He said pensively, swirling the glass around again. "And... metal."

"Hmm!" Ashleigh nodded. "You know a lot about wine, then?"

"I own the best vineyards in the Outlands. I have a monopoly on wineries on Psamathe. So, yes, I know a lot about wine."

Ashleigh made a show of widening her eyes to try and look impressed.

"I guess you're the sort of person who wants a good investment then, right?" She asked innocently.

He laughed sharply. "Yes. And no, I don't know what I'm doing here, either."

Ashleigh wordlessly pointed to what she assumed was the champagne and raised her eyebrows. That only prompted the man to laugh again.

"Oh, no. No. I can tell from here that it hasn't been transported correctly. If it's not stored in a completely controlled environment, the entire wine is ruined."

"Well, that is a shame." Ashleigh said solemnly. "I guess you'd better make the most of all your rare wines while you still can."

The man paused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, think about it! How are you going to maintain all these specific environments in the middle of an energy crisis? That can't be good for business"

By now, the man had stopped swirling his glass pretentiously, and instead stood lost in thought. Ashleigh stared at him from the corner of her eye: score.

He placed his glass down onto the table just a little too quickly- some stray drops stained the tablecloth- and withdrew his hand as if he'd been burned.

"Enjoy the gala." He said, stiffly, and stalked off without another word. Ashleigh tried to hide her smile as she watched him leave.

She scanned the room for her next potential target, when she spotted a familiar figure waving at her rather frantically.

So, Ashleigh wove through the slowly shifting crowds to meet with Mary.

"This is a bit early, I think." She remarked.

Mary sighed. "None of 'em want to listen. Have ye had any luck?"

Ashleigh tried to glance around for the man, but he'd disappeared back into the mass of guests.

"Possibly. I gave a wine snob a reality check and he bolted, so I guess we'll have to see if anything comes of that."

"At least ya got somewhere! What's yer secret?"

Ashleigh folded her arms and looked her as closely in her eyes as she could manage without imploding.

"Depends on what you've been telling them."

"Only the truth- the situation, our time limit, what's at stake. None of them care!"

She nodded. "Okay. I see your problem."

Mary raised her eyebrow expectantly.

"You're trying to make them care about the Outlands. It doesn't matter what you say to them- you can't make them do that."

Mary opened her mouth to protest, but Ashleigh pressed on.

"Instead, you need to figure out how to use their own priorities against them. If they think contributing to the project will benefit them, you'll have them practically eating out of your hand. Take wine snob: an energy crisis would mean he wouldn't be able to maintain all the special environments for his wines. That's how you get these people to listen."

"Huh." Mary said. "Sneaky!"

Ashleigh shrugged. "Not really. As long as they give us money, it doesn't actually matter what we tell them."

"I suppose yer right..." Mary turned around to scan the room. "Why don't we test that theory on whoever Lil's talking to?"

Ashleigh followed her gaze to where Lilian was talking to a man with a mustache so elaborate she could see it from halfway across the room, and a bright green monocle.

"She looks like she needs rescuing." She agreed. "Let's put her out of her misery."

"I've told you before, Lilian." Ashleigh heard the man say as they approached. "I can't afford to back another of your harebrained schemes! I need to focus on my company."

"Héctor, please." Lilian said despairingly. "You do realise that there won't be a company for you to focus on! If not for me, what about Torres?"

The man- Héctor- shook his head. "You worry too much, Lilian. This 'crisis' you're talking about is years away- why can't you just relax? You can't even enjoy your own party without thinking about some far-off disaster!" He waved his hand around to emphasise how 'far-off' he thought the energy crisis was.

Lilian looked almost on the verge of tears when she spotted Ashleigh and Mary.

"Well, if I can't convince you, maybe the experts themselves can! Héctor, this is Doctors Mary Somers and Ashleigh Reid- they've been working on this project from almost the beginning. Mary and Ashleigh, this is Héctor Silva: owner of one of the most prominent up-and-coming companies on Psamathe."

Mary, who was more personable than Ashleigh could ever aspire or want to be,  stuck out a hand for Silva to shake.

"It's a pleasure! What does yer company do, then, Héctor?"

"Pharmaceuticals." He replied proudly. "Cutting-edge. Silva will be a household name across the Outlands by the sixties, mark my words."

"Soo... yer thinkin' about the future of your company?" (Next to her, Ashleigh shot her an approving glance.)

"Oh, don't you start. I'll tell you what I told Lilian: if my company throws money at every problem that could possibly happen in a couple of decades, I'll have nothing left."

"And I'd be inclined to agree, if not for the fact that this isnae just about the crisis." Mary said, folding her arms in a show of confidence. "It's about the branthium."

"Your fancy rocks? I saw the news."

"Our new energy resource." Mary corrected him. "Surely that's a worthy investment for yer company? Can't you see how that'll benefit ya?"

"I need this business to be in a stable state for my son to inherit." Silva countered. "I'm not in a position to take any kind of risk."

"Yer doing this for your son. I understand that completely! That's why I'm doin' this, too."

Silva sipped his wine thoughtfully. After a silence, he spoke-

"How long would your project take, would you say?"

"We estimate about five or six years." Lilian said. (Ashleigh's lie to the Predators had been more accurate than she'd thought!) "Though that could change- we really want to get this right."

"Hmm." Silva simply said. Then, "Lilian, can we talk privately for a minute?"

Lilian smiled at the two scientists, looking markedly less stressed than before.

"Thanks for the help!" She said quickly. Then she nodded at Silva and they walked off.

"How'd I do?" Mary asked after they were out of earshot.

"Impressive." Ashleigh said. "The 'parental empathy' card was a stroke of genius."

"Came up with that one on the spot!" She laughed. "I'd say we're well overdue for that canapé table now, aye?"

"I'd say." Ashleigh echoed. "I need to try some of that champagne to see what all the fuss is about."

Mary poured them a glass each of the champagne.

"Funny." She remarked. "I thought it was meant to have... bubbles?"

"I've never had it, so I don't know." Ashleigh shrugged.

She took a quick sip. It was... sour. And not in a pleasant way.

Mary's scrunched-up face suggested she held a similar opinion.

"Is it meant to taste like this?" She wondered out loud.

"I'm- ack- not sure." Mary put down her glass decisively. "But I dinnae want to find out."

Ashleigh did the same. "Maybe Wine Snob was onto something after all."

"Canapés?" Mary suggested.

"Please."

They shuffled to the other end of the table, which was covered in plates of everything from cheese to confectionery.

"Ya should've brought Prowler!" Mary laughed. "He would love this, I bet."

"I'd never be able to get him to leave. I'd have to take the entire table back with me." Ashleigh joked.

"We could wheel it out! I dinnae think anyone would notice."

Mary took a tiny, sugar-covered pastry, and Ashleigh became distinctly aware of the current circumstances surrounding them.

Why not now? She thought. Why not?

"Mary-" She began, at the same time that Mary blurted out, "Och, looks like Lil's finally free from Silva! Wanna go catch up with her?"

Ashleigh fell silent.

"Wait, were ya sayin' something? Sorry, dear-"

"It's nothing." She said. "Go ahead, though. I need to find a better drink."

"Oh- okay! I'll be right back."

Mary walked off quickly, and flashed her a backwards wave as she met up with Lilian. Ashleigh tried not to watch them talk, and instead focused on trying to fulfil her hasty excuse.

Nothing in this row of bottles remotely resembled anything she'd ever seen in a bar. So, she opted for the prettiest-looking bottle and just hope the drink tasted as good.

"Ashleigh?" A voice said from behind her. "Ashleigh Reid?"

Ashleigh recognised this voice, which was nothing short of disturbing. She wasn't meant to know anyone out here.

She turned around, and spotted a woman with long, wavy dark hair, and a bright yellow dress: the woman who had been watching her earlier, standing right behind her. Now she was definitely sure that she knew her from somewhere other than Psamathe, but just couldn't place her.

"Yes...?" She said, cautiously.

"I knew it was you!" The woman beamed, stepping a little closer. (Ashleigh stepped slightly further away in the most subtle manner she could manage.) "Fancy seeing you all the way out here! It really is a small universe, huh?"

Ashleigh closed her lips into a tight smile and nodded frantically. She still had no fucking idea who this woman was.

"Crazy." She managed. "How long has it been?"

"God, I don't know..." The woman laughed. "Seven? Eight years?"

Seven or eight years ago, Ashleigh was doing her PhD. She had also begun pilot training, but she could say pretty safely that this woman did not seem like pilot material.

"What brings you out here, then?" Ashleigh asked, trying to exercise every small talk ability in her body into figuring out who this woman was before it came round to bite her.

"Oh, I got invited as part of that outreach thing Peck was running. As if I'd pass up a chance to see those phase runners up close! I applied for a day pass to Olympus for tomorrow- it's such a long journey that you might as well make a trip out of it, right?"

"Right." Ashleigh agreed.

This must be the phase scientist that Lilian had mentioned. And she knew her somehow- but how?

"You're the same, I suppose?"

"No." Ashleigh shook her head. "I'm working on Project Iris."

"Ooh, really? That's big! Guess you finally left all that-" She lowered her voice "-Mercenary stuff behind, then?"

Now the penny dropped. Ashleigh knew who this woman was, and she just hoped  that she had enough control over her face to hide it.

"Yes." She lied. "Full-time scientist now, just like I'd planned."

"Ah, that's great! I'm really happy for you."

Out of every single person in the entire Frontier to be present at this gala, of course it had to be Nova.

Her singular ex- girlfriend.

"And what have you been... up to?" Ashleigh asked awkwardly

Nova wiggled her hand. "Same old, same old. I'm in research now- theoretical, though."

"Hm. Nice."

"So, what use does Iris have for a phase scientist anyway?"

"Not much." Ashleigh said honestly. "I was working as Doctor Somers' assistant before she was invited to Olympus, so I travelled over when she did."

"That's very lucky!"

"I know." (Lucky was one way of describing it.)

"Do you think you'll go back to phase science after the project's finished?"

"I might." Ashleigh said. (In truth, with what she was getting paid for this she had absolutely no idea what she was going to do afterwards.)

This almost felt like a trap. After the note she'd left things on with Nova, what possible reason would she have to be so friendly?

Nova reached out and took one of the decorated ceramic plates from the table behind Ashleigh. Something sparkled on her hand.

"Oh yeah! I'm engaged." She said, noticing her staring. "I wanted her to come, but she doesn't like crowds. I think you'd like her."

"Congratulations."

"Thank you. What about you? Seeing anyone?"

Ashleigh shook her head quickly. "Married to my work, or whatever the expression is."

"Well, as long as you pay attention to it!" Nova laughed slightly. "...Sorry. Bad joke."

"Not really." Ashleigh hesitated. "And I'm sorry about... that."

(She was getting really good at this apology thing.)

"Eh, don't worry about it- we were both pretty stupid back then. I got over it, as you can see."

"Yeah."

At that moment, Lilian and Mary decided to approach them.

"Ashleigh!" Lilian called. "I see you've met the phase scientist I was talking about."

"We went to college together." Nova informed her proudly. (Though thankfully, that was the extent of the information she provided.)

"Really?!" Mary chipped in from behind Lilian. (Ashleigh nodded slowly to confirm.)

"You're Doctor Somers, right?"

"Right! And you are?"

"Nova Arbec." She stuck out an arm across Ashleigh for Mary to shake. "Not from anywhere around here."

"Ye ken... I heard from a reliable source-" she winked quite obviously at Ashleigh, which unfortunately caused her face to heat up, "-that the phase runners on Olympus are quite somethin'. Have ya seen 'em yet?"

"I'm going tomorrow! Been looking forwards to it for ages."

"Well, we live up there, so I might see ya. Want any recommendations for stuff to see while yer there?"

"That would be nice! Though I can't hang around for too long- it's a pretty long commute."

(Nova and Mary in the same room- this was surely some kind of nightmare.)

Thankfully, Lilian seemed to have spotted her next mark in the constant survey of her party, and she said to Mary-

"Could you help me with this one? I think we're finally starting to get through to them."

Mary agreed, said a quick goodbye, and the pair left again.

Any thought of Ashleigh being able to escape her obligatory small talk with Nova similarly jumped out of a window, as as soon as they'd left she turned on her with folded arms.

"Married to your work, huh?"

"Nova-"

"Married to your work." She repeated. "Huh."

"I'm going to talk to her this evening." Ashleigh almost hissed, darting her eyes around to check that Mary was not in earshot. "It's a process."

"Why do I get the feeling that you've been procrastinating? I've never seen you procrastinate."

"I-" Ashleigh sighed. "The circumstances haven't been right yet. I am going to talk to her today."

"Then what are you waiting for? Go on! Before she starts talking to some other billionaire."

Ashleigh did not like being told what to do, but she recognised that time was not particularly on her side on this occasion.

"Fine. I'll go find her after she's finished helping Lilian."

"That's the spirit!" Nova said warmly. "Just don't break her heart, alright?"

"I'll try."

Ashleigh made her way through the crowds again until Mary and Lilian were in her field of vision again. But before she could move any closer, Lilian tapped her glass to produce another ringing sound.

Just as before, the room immediately went silent.

Lilian said: "I would like to announce that it's time for the dancing to begin! Please move upstairs to the balconies if you aren't participating."

At that moment, Mary turned and met Ashleigh's eyes- and the solution to her problem suddenly became very clear.

Chapter Text

Ashleigh knew how to pilot a Titan. She knew how to use every single melee weapon under the sun, and she knew countless ways to kill someone, armed or unarmed.

What she had not learned how to do was dance.

There was no time to overthink that now, though, because Mary had practically materialised next to her in the meantime since Lilian had made the announcement.

She stood next to her with her hand outstretched.

"May I, ah... have this dance, darlin'?"

Her eyebrows were twitched in a way that suggested she wasn't taking this situation entirely seriously.

"I'll warn you- I haven't had time to learn." Ashleigh replied, carefully taking her hand.

(Because what was she going to say? No?)

"I said I'd teach ya- you'll pick it up in no time."

"Yeah?"

"It'd be my honour." She insisted. "Come on!"

They found a space in a corner of the now-dancefloor.

"Okay," Mary instructed, "stand opposite me. About..." She took a step backwards. "...that far, yeah.

Now, I'll put my hand on yer back. Put yer left hand on my shoulder, and I'll take yer right."

Ashleigh obliged, trying to focus very hard on following her instructions and not on how close Mary now was to her. Her hands were soft, and her fingers spindly, but she held her hand confidently- obviously, Mary knew exactly what she was doing.

"Right, now I'm gonna step forwards, so all ye have to do is step back as I do it, and mirror how my feet are movin'."

"How do you know all this?" Ashleigh asked, glancing downwards to make sure her steps were in time with Mary's as the string quartet that Lilian had apparently hired started playing.

"Lil taught me in college- she had to learn loads of dances for her parents' galas when she was little."

"That makes sense."

Ashleigh carefully repeated the steps until she found the rhythm for it. Eventually, they started drifting into a circle, moving slowly across the floor.

"So, we just keep doing this now?"

"Eeh, not quite. You've picked up the basics really well, so how about we try and turn a bit now?"

Ashleigh glanced to the side and spotted several pairs of guests doing exactly that.

"Sounds simple enough."

"It's the same principle, but kinda... diagonal-" She demonstrated by adjusting her stance and stepping so that she moved in more of a circular manner than the previous box shape, and Ashleigh adjusted her own steps to match. "There! Got it. Yer a real natural at this, you know?"

"I'm a fast learner." She corrected her, but something in her chest still did a little somersault at the praise.

It was almost difficult to rationalise the eccentric, clumsy Mary that Ashleigh had been working with for years with this one. It was as if she was completely laser-focused on the dance (and, by extension, she was laser-focused on her.)

All in all, waltzing was actually far easier than she'd anticipated; after a while, Ashleigh just let her body go onto autopilot as she followed Mary around the floor.

"Can I try spinnin' ya?"

"Huh?"

"Ye ken, like-" Mary unclasped her hand from Ashleigh's and made a little motion with her finger to demonstrate.

"Oh. Yeah, I'll be able to do that."

"Alright! I think ye just need to spin on the third count... so... now-"

As soon as Mary took her hand off Ashleigh's back she saw her cue to turn. So she spun, still holding onto Mary's hand, for one count... two... three... and then it was back to the beginning of the cycle.

And her heel came down hard onto the toe of one of Mary's shoes.

"Sorry!" She said quickly, feeling her face burn up with embarrassment.

Mary just laughed. "It's alright! The fact that I havnae done that to you yet is some kind of miracle, honestly."

They took a second to reset their positions, and started to go back to the normal dance again.

Even though Ashleigh was hyper-aware of Mary in that moment, she still couldn't help but glance around the room at some of the other dancing pairs.

She spotted the Paquettes- who did not seem to be having much success at the dance, but at least appeared to be having fun (or as close to the concept as Amélie could manage). Lilian had cycled through at least six different guests each time Ashleigh had seen her, and seemed to have tried to keep up her project pitch to each one- with varying levels of success.

But most of all, she was focused on Mary. Her eyes were staring dead ahead from sheer concentration, and trained somewhere around Ashleigh's left ear. Every time they caught each other's eye, Mary's face bloomed into a stellar smile, and she must've been wearing a new perfume because Ashleigh didn't recognise the scent. Her eyes were sparklier than usual, though that may have been partially due to the bright blue eyeshadow that she was wearing.

"Should we take a break?"

"Hm?" Ashleigh asked, refocusing. At some point the music had died down, and several of the pairs had dispersed and were now mingling around the drinks tables. "Sure."

Mary fiddled with the collar of her shirt. "Aleki was right- it's pretty stuffy in here. I think I might go get some air."

"Alright. See you in a minute."

Mary paused, and blinked at her.

"Oh- aye, see ya."

She stood there for a second more, and Ashleigh mentally kicked herself for not getting the hint sooner.

"You're right, actually, it is stuffy." She said, hurriedly. "I'll go with you."

"Lovely!" Mary's eyes darted around the room as she looked for a suitable exit. "How about there?"

She pointed to a window behind the balcony area that overlooked the room.

"Let's see." Ashleigh said.

After they'd politely pushed their way through the crowds, Mary and Ashleigh stood in front of the glass door leading to an empty balcony that faced the rest of Malta.

"I'm surprised there's no one already out there." Ashleigh remarked.

"Guess they're all used to this sort of thing? The Psamathe elite are basically born and bred to party."

"I don't envy them in that regard." (Mary chuckled at that.)

She unlatched the door, and held it open for Mary to step across to the balcony.

After she carefully shut the door behind them, Ashleigh joined her at leaning over the balcony overlooking the lower buildings in the city.

Above them, Dionysus shone, and if Ashleigh craned her neck she could almost see Olympus' shadow above them. It was a clear night- she could see stars.

"Soo... how have ya found yer first Lilian Party?"

"Pretty good." She replied honestly. "The dancing was a... particular highlight."

"I think ye did great. And I learned how to manipulate people!"

"Low-level manipulation." Ashleigh laughed. "You've still got some work to do."

Mary reached over and patted her hand.

"Still. I appreciate it."

Her hand lingered there, for a second.

Ashleigh knew that this was it. She ran through a million different scripts in her mind, searching for the right one.

But before she could say anything, Mary sighed and shifted to resting her elbows on the balcony.

She swivelled her head to look directly at Ashleigh.

"Look, dear... there's somethin' I should get off my chest."

"Go ahead?"

"Aaaah..." Mary swished her hair back from her face- she was stalling. "Sorry."

She steeled herself, took a breath, and spoke.

"I- look. I should've told ya all this a long time ago, but we were so busy with work, and then I tried to figure out how you'd react, and then I thought-" She cut herself off. "Ashleigh."

"Yes?"

"I love you."

All Ashleigh could do was make a weird little strangled noise from the back of her throat. Mary didn't seem to know how to take this, and pressed on.

"A-and I ken I say that all the time, but I honestly mean it- you know what I mean- I love spending time with ye, and yer so intelligent, and interestin', and so caring- even if you pretend yer not-"

Ashleigh stood there like she'd had the wind knocked out of her.

"...And if I totally misjudged this whole thing just tell me, and I'll go back inside and never mention-"

"Mary." She cut her off, and- how could she even begin to respond to that?

There wasn't time to think about it.

"I... was going to tell you something similar." She began, trying to utilise the tiny heel on her shoes to make herself stand just a little taller.

"Really?"

"I actually first planned to do it when I invited you to lunch that time, right before the incident with Paquette."

Neither of them could help laughing at that.

"That far back..." Mary shook her head. "Look at us! The fate of the Outlands basically rests in our hands and we cannae even have a bloody conversation!"

"At least we're talking about it... now?" Ashleigh asked, relieved.

"Took us long enough- I guess we have been tied up lately."

Ashleigh nodded- if she was a computer, she would've definitely short-circuited by now.

"But honestly, dear, ye have no idea how happy I am." Mary said.

They both stood there, frozen on the balcony.

Then, Ashleigh stepped forwards. Again, she recognised Mary's exact facial expression, so this time she knew exactly what she had to do.

Mary moved towards her as Ashleigh gently held her face with one hand to steady herself.

Then, she carefully pitched herself upwards on tiptoes, closed her eyes, and kissed her.

Chapter Text

As it turns out, fancy party dresses are not particularly suited to lying down on stiff hotel beds. Ashleigh felt the fabric crease around her uncomfortably as she propped herself up on her elbow to look at Mary, who was lying flat on her back next to her, her blazer already draped over the little chair in the corner of her room.

The rest of the gala had passed in a blur:  by the time the pair had rejoined the other guests, it was almost the time of the night where people begun to peel off and go home (or drink elsewhere). Lilian didn't even need to ask where they'd been or what they'd been doing- instead she wasted no time expressing her congratulations (and relief) before pointing them in the direction of another potential target. After they'd successfully persuaded one more billionaire to support their cause, they swanned around the place together, content in their new secret.

Once some guests had begun to leave, Lilian sent them back to the hotel while she and her staff prepared to clear the place up, and they had gratefully obliged. And there they had stayed- in Mary's room. Talking.

"We need to be up early tomorrow to catch the first transport back." Ashleigh said, finally. "I should go."

Mary shifted around to face her, and twitched her eyebrows slightly.

"...Should ya? I mean, ye dinnae have to..."

She hesitated- though her mind was already made up. Ashleigh wanted just one good day without having to think about the marks her past had left on her. And she was still thinking of how to explain them away so she didn't have to tell Mary the truth. (Besides- she had definitely reached her limit on emotional vulnerability for the day.)

So she nodded before she lost the willpower to.

"Yeah. It's been a long day- anyway, you're probably already going to be hungover tomorrow. Why make it worse?"

Mary nodded slowly, then sighed and slumped onto the bed.

"Thought we'd agreed yer not my assistant anymore."

Ashleigh shrugged. "Old habits. Think of it as... partner-ly concern."

That made Mary burst out into laughter, somehow.

"What are we- cowboys? Parrd-ner." She mimicked her accent affectionately.

Ashleigh rolled her eyes with exaggerated drama. "Now you're just proving my point."

"Guess yer right..." Mary beckoned vaguely with two fingers for her to lean over. "C'mere."

Ashleigh did so, and received another kiss planted right on her forehead.

"Thanks." She said thickly, as the room spun around her- Mary wasn't the only one who'd had a few drinks.

"Night, darlin'."

"Night." Ashleigh echoed, as she tried to reset her balance and get up from the bed before she could change her mind.

Her room was a corridor down, so she tried to walk as quietly as she could in her fancy shoes- the heels on her shoes sunk weirdly into the patterned carpet as she walked.

"I'm not even going to ask." Someone said from behind her. (Someone French.)

Ashleigh turned around irritably. "Isn't it past your bedtime, Paq?"

"Emile and I went out." She said, matter-of-factly. "You have something... there." She pointed at her own forehead, then paused, looked closer at Ashleigh, and proceeded to halfheartedly gesture over the rest of her face as well.

It was just a mercy that the lights were low enough to disguise Ashleigh's embarrassment.

"Noted. Thank you." She said stiffly, and walked the rest of the distance to her room a little faster.

The next morning, Ashleigh found that her head ached more than she'd anticipated. Which only meant that Mary would be in an even worse state, and probably not awake at all.

For a second, everything that had happened the previous day didn't come back to her- and then it did. How she'd started the day out of her mind with nerves, and ended it trying to wipe numerous lipstick smudges off her face. (She hadn't considered how sticky said smudges would be before, nor how difficult they'd be to remove. If she weren't in a hotel, she might've been tempted to keep them.)

She reached over and punched Mary's room number into the hotel phone.

"D'ye ken- ach- how bloody awful that ringtone is?"

"It makes an effective alarm, at least." Ashleigh replied, as she was in the weird state of half-sleep where one suddenly becomes a comedic genius without even having to try.

"Hmmgh." Mary mananged, which Ashleigh assumed was some kind of affirmative.

"We're meeting Lilian and the others in the lobby. See you down there?"

"...Times like these... wish energy drinks worked on me..."

"I'll see you down there." Ashleigh repeated, and hung up so she could focus on getting out of bed herself.

After she switched on her light (and blinked hard a few times to adjust), Ashleigh launched herself out of the bed towards the small bag that held her final change of clothes for this venture. She pulled them on and quickly ran a brush through her hair until it was acceptably smooth and her parting was fixed. Then, she gathered the components of her dress from the previous night and folded them up into her bag with her pyjamas, downed some mouthwash, put on her boots, and left.

In the lobby, the four other scientists and Lilian existed on a scale between mostly asleep (Mary), awake but bedraggled (Emile), tired but mostly hiding it (Paquette), somehow beaming like he'd had a full twelve hours (Gibraltar) and Lilian, who looked exactly as she did when she was making her speeches the previous day, minus the outfit.

Ashleigh couldn't help smiling when she saw Mary, and walked over to stand next to her.

"Morning." She said simply.

"Mornin'... dear." Mary replied- her eyes looked slightly unfocused. Ashleigh lightly placed her hand on her shoulder to steady her, ignoring Paquette's weary stare.

Lilian cleared her throat. "If we're all ready, should we get going?"

The group of scientists followed like a row of disoriented ducklings her as she left for the station.

"Wanna... come for breakfast?" Mary asked her after she'd regained coherency. "Mum's with Newt, so I'm going straight there."

"That sounds nice."

"We should...-" She pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment "-We should tell Newton."

Ashleigh nodded. "How do you think he'll take it?"

"He does think the world of ya, so... probably well?"

"Let's hope so. By the way, once you've recovered we need to talk about the logistics of this thing."

Mary raised an eyebrow. "Logistics?"

"Logistics- how this'll work, what we... are-"

"I think yer overthinking this a little, dear."

"I just don't want to..." She tailed off. (Mess this up.)

Mary patted her shoulder, apparently understanding. "Okay. We'll have a chat after I've come to."

"Thanks."

Ashleigh tried to avoid eye contact with the others in the carriage as Mary leaned heavily on her shoulder and closed her eyes.

Eventually, Gibraltar spoke up.

"...Enjoy the party?"

"It wasn't as bad as I expected." Ashleigh said honestly.

"Good!" His eyes flicked towards Mary, but thankfully he didn't say anything.

Lilian eventually filled the silence.

"I've heard back from a few people already, and I think we have some more supporters now! So thanks, everyone- I hope you all have a good rest today."

"We'll need it." Paquette said. "But it was a good party, so thank you." (Emile nodded at that.)

Ashleigh gently shook Mary awake as they arrived back at Olympus.

"Feeling any better?" She asked, in a low voice. (Across from her, Paquette's gaze was fixed very firmly towards the window behind her.)

Mary winced. "I'll live. Just gearin' up to get back into 'functional mum mode'."

"Good luck."

In response, Mary shifted back to an upright sitting position, and glanced brightly around the carriage as the transport slowed to a gentle halt at Olympus' station. It was unclear exactly how much of this was a facade, but Ashleigh didn't want to ask.

"Can we pick up Prowler on the way?" Ashleigh asked, after they'd said their groggy goodbyes to the others and set off walking across Olympus' geometric surface.

"Of course! Wouldnae want him to get lonely."

Ashleigh quickly let herself into her apartment as they passed and made a beeline for her room. Prowler scampered up her arm as soon as she opened his cage, and she took a second to stroke his ears in the particular way that he liked. His eyes boggled contentedly, and he clung to her shoulder as she quickly spun out to rejoin Mary outside.

"Ye really should sneak him into Lil's next gala." Mary suggested, glancing at her shoulder. "It might make things more interesting- even if he does end up eatin' all the canapés."

"l could use him to threaten the guests..." Ashleigh mused, half-jokingly. "I'd say I'll set my rat on them if they don't back Iris."

Mary snorted. "I'll let ya know if we get that desperate."

"Ready?" Mary asked, though she was already unlocking the front door.

Ashleigh didn't have time to confirm before they both heard a yell of "MUM!" from inside. Upon hearing that, Mary stood a little straighter, and some of the sparkle returned to her eyes.

Newton tackled Mary into a hug as soon as she opened the door, as if he'd launched himself from a slingshot.

"Newtie!"

"How was the party? Can I go next time?!"

Mary laughed. "Ach, I wish. We were just talkin' to boring rich people all night- I bet ya had a much better time with Grannie!"

Newton nodded enthusiastically. "We played loads of board games, and I showed her the new Galactic Guardian movie."

"I still need to watch that one." Mary muttered.

"It's really good!"

Now Mary's mother appeared, and crushed her daughter into another hug.

"Thanks for lookin' after him, mum."

"Och, it was my pleasure! How was the gala?"

"Great, thanks- but I dinnae want to hold ye up. Can we catch up another time?"

"Uh, sure! I'm sure ye both need to recover." She raised her eyebrows at Ashleigh in a distinctly Mary-esque manner.

"Thanks, Mum."

"I'll be off, then- wouldnae want to be stranded in this quiet, beautiful city, after all." Mary's mother said pointedly.

"Ye could've moved if ye wanted-" Mary replied under her breath, before resetting herself and smiling at her mother. "I'll call soon."

"Good. Bye, dear. And drink some water!"

Mary turned back towards Newton after her mother left.

"Doctor Reid and I are gonna get breakfast ready, petal, so could ya just give us a minute?"

She pulled Ashleigh into the kitchen the second he said "Okay!" and scampered off.

"I've never seen you so desperate for her to leave before." Ashleigh remarked, and Mary pulled a face.

"Mum's always been a wee bit... intense with my dates." She explained. "I thought I'd spare ya from that on day one."

"Considerate." Ashleigh said, as she started to retrieve cereal from the cupboard. "I appreciate it."

"M-hm. Anyway, are ye ready to talk to Newt?"

"I'm ready."

"Alrighty." Mary raised her voice slightly. "Newtie? It's time for breakfast!"

He was sitting on a chair by the kitchen table in a flash.

Mary sat down opposite him. "Ye ken... we've got a full day off today, so why don't we do somethin' fun? Yer choice- anything you've been wantin' to do?"

"Prowler museum." He said instantly.

"Museum it is!"

Newton paused after he'd shovelled through about half his cereal.

"Is Doctor Reid coming too?"

Ashleigh glanced at Mary for assurance, who inclined her head very slightly. "As long as you're fine with that." She said, carefully.

"Yeah! One-hundred-percent."

Mary cleared her throat.

"Actually, dear, we've got somethin' to tell ya."

She squeezed Ashleigh's hand under the table; Newton looked up expectantly.

"Doctor Reid and I are... goin' out."

Newton did not look particularly surprised by this announcement. Mary presumably assumed he didn't quite understand what she meant, so she tried again.

"See, petal, we're-"

"-You're in love." He interrupted. (It was a statement, not a question.)

"Aye!" She smiled at Ashleigh. "That we are."

(If it weren't for the persistent headache, Ashleigh would've thought she was in a dream.)

"Ye dinnae seem that surprised, dear!" Mary observed, returning her attention to Newton and laughing slightly.

Newton shrugged. "You look at each other like the people in love movies all the time. And Doctor Reid's been around since basically forever."

"You're very observant- I'm impressed." Ashleigh said.

"I am." Newton nodded. "Super ob-ser-vant. Wait, are you gonna live with us now?"

"Uh..."

"We're still workin' out all the details." Mary said quickly. "But Doctor Reid will definitely be around here more."

"Cool!"

Ashleigh offered him an awkward thumbs up in response.

"Logistics." Mary said, after Newton had left to get ready for the trip. "I ken it's a bit sudden, but if ye would like to stay... the offer is there."

Ashleigh's eyebrows shot up in surprise, which just made Mary laugh.

"Aye, that might be jumpin' the gun a tad, actually."

"I'll think about it." Ashleigh promised. "Just... not yet."

"That's very fair. Obviously, since I've got Newt, I cannae move, so all that is up to you. Eventually. Or never, if ye prefer!"

"Let's just play it by ear- I haven't thought that far ahead." (Not in this respect, at least.)

"Okay! As for what we are... what do ye need clarifyin'?"

"I just feel like I'm too old to have a 'girlfriend'." Ashleigh said, shrugging.

"Yer only thirty-four! I think it's cute, anyway."

"I guess. Do you still think 'partner' sounds like cowboys?"

"Did I really say that?"

She nodded, and Mary smiled ruefully.

"I dinnae mind what ye call me in that respect, honestly. Partner, girlfriend, significant other- class it how ya want. We both'll know what we mean."

"I'll find something that works." Ashleigh said, and smiled suddenly as a thought came to her. "And I'd better do it soon- were you conscious enough earlier this morning to see Paquette? She looked like she was about to explode."

"Really?" Mary chuckled. "Poor thing- though she's got a perfectly nice husband, so she cannae complain!"

"I think I'm going to ruin your reputation in her eyes." Ashleigh said, mock-solemnly.

Mary rested her head on her hands, propped up on the kitchen table by her elbows so they could be at the same eye level, and smiled at her.

"Worth it."

Chapter Text

Ashleigh wasn't used to feeling so happy. It was a weird, manic feeling that messed with her thoughts and even seeped into her actions.

She liked it.

Even going to work felt like less of a chore now: after the timely day off Lilian had granted everyone post-gala, returning to the lab seemed almost exciting.

It was almost enough to make her forget about the ever-present inevitability that was still hanging over her head.

(Perhaps, she began to think, madly, she'd work out a way to keep Mary away on the day she'd have to do it. Maybe she'd get tragically lucky and Newton would be sick, so she'd have to stay home and look after him while Ashleigh attacked all their colleagues and seized the solution to saving their home. Even if Ashleigh had to beg her herself, and tell her everything if it only kept her safe-)

Ashleigh shook away that thought as she fastened the poppers on her lab outfit and pulled on her long white socks.  She'd figure out a way around that- later.

By the time she'd arrived at work, Gibraltar and Paquette were already chatting from their desks, happily trading stories from the gala.

"Hey, Ashleigh!" Gibraltar said- as despite her repeated displays of disinterest, he still bothered to try and include her in conversations she wanted no part in.

"Hello." She said, generously. (She was in a good mood, after all.)

"I saw you and Mary absolutely killin' it on the dancefloor the other day! I didn't have you pegged as a dancer at all, honestly- have you been takin' secret lessons, or what?"

"Mary has." She said, patiently- the memory of the dance replayed in her head for what must have been the five-thousandth time. "I haven't- she taught me as we danced."

"Well, I wouldn't've guessed." He turned to glance at Paquette, who had returned to her own work with a stony expression. "And, uh, you and Emile looked like you were havin' fun too, Am!"

"We took lessons." Paquette said, pointedly. Gibraltar snapped his mouth shut like a large, awkward fish.

Ashleigh, who was feeling alarmingly considerate in her own personal joy, decided to hold back on a timely remark about Paquette's own skill at dancing. Instead, she resolved to do what she was actually being paid to, and focus on her tasks for the day.

Mary arrived shortly afterwards and promptly failed to clock the slightly strained atmosphere in the room.

"Mornin' dearies!" She called instead.

"Mornin'!" Gibraltar looked very relieved at the intervention.

It was as if a sunbeam had just shot through the lab's window. The whole lab seemed to relax slightly as Mary put on her lab coat and headed over to her desk.

"Are we all recovered after the gala?"

"Almost." Paquette said, in a far more pleasant tone. "How are you, Somers?"

"Never better!" As she said this, Mary turned around in her spinny chair to lock eyes with Ashleigh and smile brilliantly. This felt a little like being set on fire, but without the excruciating pain that came with it. (Ashleigh knew this from experience.)

Though that might also have been due to Paquette's gaze from the other end of the room.

Work was filled with just as many dead ends as ever, but Ashleigh was too full of unexpectedly positive emotions to feel the usual frustration at the lack of progress they were making. Maybe this was how Mary felt most of the time? There had been very few times in Ashleigh's memory that she got truly frustrated over her work, and that was always after she'd been pushed to her absolute limit.

"I just think..." Gibraltar began, thoughtfully, as the group began to wind down for lunch, "... we could do with a new perspective on this."

He paused as if waiting for a response, and then carried on when he didn't get one.

"I mean: if we've tried everythin' we can think of- the four of us- maybe it's time for a new way of lookin' at things!"

"So? What do you suggest?" Paquette asked.

"Dunno." He shrugged. "My first thought was a new scientist, but that's way easier said than done."

"I could talk to Lil about it?" Mary suggested. "Ye ken there's no expense she'll spare for this project- it's more a matter of time than anythin'."

Gibraltar nodded. "If we keep going the way we're goin', that sounds like a good idea."

"I still have a few ideas left to try." Paquette said. "Let me see if those go anywhere first- if not, though, I would agree with you."

Ashleigh listened silently from her desk, but her usually sharp thoughts felt sanded-down every time she saw Mary from the corner of her eye. Even the thought of a new scientist didn't fill her with the same dread it usually did.

"It's in your hands then, Am." Gibraltar conceded. "Who knows? Maybe the answer is closer than we think!"

Mary walked over to Ashleigh's desk once the conversation had ended, and settled herself comfortably on the table's edge in a weird inversion of their old routine.

"Are ya comin' to mine for lunch?"

"If you're offering?"

"It won't be anything fancy, I'm afraid- soup, most likely."

"Soup sounds perfect." Ashleigh nodded. "Anyway, I think we have another logistic to discuss."

Mary raised her eyebrow. "We do? Alrighty, then."

She hopped lightly off the desk (though her feet remained firmly on the ground), her hand brushing by Ashleigh's as she returned to her own workspace.

Ashleigh knew without the means to check that her face must've been as red as her hair- even more so when she saw her colleagues pointedly avoiding eye contact with either of them.

They left the lab and traipsed back to Mary's for lunch. Ashleigh was tasked with retrieving spoons and drinks while Mary heated up some soup that she had in a tupperware in her fridge.

"What type is it?" Ashleigh asked, peering dubiously around Mary's shoulder at the greengrey-ish reheated soup.

"Vegetable."

"Which ones?"

"Dinnae ken." Mary said, thoughtfully stirring the soup. "I got it at the shops ages ago- it tastes, as I recall, vegetable-y."

Though she'd had a few years of experiencing the better range of foods that Psamathe had on offer, Ashleigh was unsure what exactly 'vegetable-y' entailed. Still, she nodded politely as if she understood exactly what Mary was on about.

"Could ya pass some bowls, please, dear?"

Ashleigh passed her two bowls and she ladled the soup in, taking care to ensure the amounts were equal.

Then they each took a bowl to the table.

"What's yer new logistic?" Mary asked, after blowing on her soup to cool it. "Everythin' okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just- our colleagues."

"Ah." Mary's eyes widened in understanding. "Aye, I think I get what ya mean."

"It's not that I don't like it- it's just- well-" Ashleigh took a quick gulp of the soup. (It did indeed taste of indistinct vegetables.) "-more than anything else, it's distracting." She finished.

"God, if I'm so much of a distraction, ye really should've said-" Mary began teasingly, and then quickly cut herself off when she noted Ashleigh's expression. "Sorry- yer right. Professionalism."

"Professionalism." Ashleigh agreed.

"Also, keepin' Amélie from the brink of an aneurysm."

"That one's less of a priority." She muttered; Mary snorted semi-disapprovingly, so she added: "But finding another geologist would be a pain."

"Mhm."

Mary finished her soup quickly and scooped up her and Ashleigh's bowls, placing them on her counter to deal with later.

"I think we'd better head back, darlin'."

"Time to pretend to be very civil acquaintances." Ashleigh joked.

Mary held open the door for her as they left.

"After you, Doctor Reid." She said, grandly.

"Why thank you, Doctor Somers."

"It's my impersonal pleasure, de- ah, acquaintance." Mary laughed, as the pair walked back to the lab.

Outside, Ashleigh leaned upwards to place a quick kiss on Mary's cheek before their work resumed. Mary's fingers brushed the spot, semi-consciously.

"Might as well get it out of our systems, aye?" She smiled at Ashleigh. "Thanks, dear."

Then she swiped her ID card and the doors slid open.

Paquette was the only person already in the lab, but Ashleigh paid her no mind. She was loitering around the coffee machine- usually, Ashleigh would've gone out of her way to avoid her, but today she didn't care. She wanted a coffee (before the poor machine died for good).

"Reid." Paquette said, slightly confused.

Next to her, the coffee machine was pathetically trickling out the liquid. Ashleigh stepped closer and sized it up.

"You need to hit it." Ashleigh explained, taking- horror of horrors- pity on the woman. "Here-"

She demonstrated, sharply tapping the top of the machine with the edge of her hand. It creaked in protest, and begrudgingly spurted out a normal amount of coffee.

"Huh." Is all that Paquette said in response. "Thank you."

She withdrew her mug and regarded her thoughtfully.

"I suppose the upside of you dating her is that you act like this, now."

Ashleigh just blinked at her, completely baffled.

"Though..." Paquette added, in an undertone, "... I still have absolutely no idea what she sees in you."

Ashleigh just beamed at her- at least, she assumed she was beaming. It was hard to tell, as her face didn't arrange itself that way often.

"Conveniently for you, you aren't the one dating me."

She shook her head. "And thank God for that."

Ashleigh wisely decided not to retort further- instead, she simply retrieved her own mug (the rat-patterned one) from the machine and went back to her desk.

That evening, Ashleigh was just about to start making herself dinner when there was a knock at her door. Reluctantly, she went to go answer it.

It was someone in uniform, holding a parcel.

"Delivery for... Doctor Ash-lay Reid?"

"That's me." Ashleigh said, ignoring the awful mispronunciation. He handed over the parcel and she shut the door.

She didn't remember ordering anything recently- in fact, she hardly ever ordered deliveries at all. Still, she opened up the rectangular parcel.

It was a recipe book- how long ago had she ordered this? Long enough for her to forget, at least.

As she started to leaf through the book while wandering back to her kitchen, an excellent idea started to come together in her mind.

Chapter Text

"A dinner party?" Mary asked down the phone, a few weeks later. "That sounds fun! Who're ya invitin'?"

"You; Newton." Ashleigh replied. As an afterthought, she added- "Lilian too, if she's not busy."

"Sounds like a good party to me! When'll it be?"

"Does a week from now work?"

"Hang on, I'll check-" She heard some distant clatterings down the phone "-Aye, we're free then. Cannae say the same for Lil, though."

"I'll ask her, but you know how it is."

"Lovely! Well, I'll see ya tomorrow, dear."

"See you." Ashleigh smiled, and hoped that it carried in her voice. "Bye."

Ashleigh did not really know what constituted a dinner party, beyond there being: one- a meal; and two- guests. She'd never hosted anything at her apartment on Olympus- in fact, she wasn't sure that she'd even hosted anything, ever. (Though this was not too surprising, as Ashleigh had not been the sort of person that enjoyed the company of friends up until very recently.)

"So, how do I do this?" She muttered to herself.

She cast her mind back to every time Mary had invited her to dinner. Before she sat down at the table, she always had to walk through her apartment to get there: so, she needed to make her own look presentable.

The first thing that would need to go was Prowler's pen that had remained undisturbed on her living room floor almost since she'd first moved in. That was simple enough- all she'd need to do was fold it up and store it out of sight before the party started.

Ashleigh pictured her living room without the pen, and found that it looked too empty. Not like Mary's- with little mementos and photos on every surface, or Lilian's with all her neat, tasteful decorations. One of those ideas was more achievable in a short timespan than the other.

When Ashleigh's assignment had been confirmed, she had been provided with a set of generic, convincing, completely fake personal photographs to make her look more like a person who had lived a normal life and who wasn't at all plotting any thefts or murders. She'd always seen them as a little unnecessary before, but now she wondered if they were exactly what she needed.

She still had the files on her computer somewhere, after she'd quickly disposed of the original copies. After a minimal amount of searching, she located the innocently named 'Pics' file. She scanned through the photographs inside:

A city, and not the one she grew up in. Her graduation- that one was her actual graduation photo, thankfully devoid of any pasted-in strangers. And there they were: an assortment of red haired, blue eyed people that bore just enough of a resemblance to her to not raise any questions. A man and a woman- not her parents, even though she hadn't cared to recall their faces in years. Grandparents too, apparently (ones that looked kind- like they would've tried to reach out and find her after the flood).

No brother.

They'd done an alright job, she supposed, considering they had almost nothing to work with. She printed out the photos of the city, her graduation, and one of her 'parents'. Then, for balance, she found the photograph she'd taken of the time she'd gone on holiday with the Somerses and Lilian, and one of her and Mary at the lab, and printed those too. Next time she was planetside, she would buy frames for them, and place them conspicuously around her apartment as if they'd been there all along.

Now for her kitchen.

This was less of a problem- the real question was what food she'd make for her guests.

Her cookbook was lying on the counter where she'd left it, so she walked over and started leafing through the pages that she'd dog-eared.

It couldn't be anything too fancy- Newton was far too picky for that. However, something too simple would present her as an inadequate host.

Some kind of roast seemed to be a good middle ground: enough for her to cook that it'd be worth the effort, but also an established staple that she knew all her guests would be able to eat.

The following week, Ashleigh went on a shopping trip with a mission.

"Need any help?" Mary asked, after she'd expressed her intentions after work.

But Ashleigh shook her head. "You're a guest." She explained. "I'll take care of everything."

Her first stop was for the frames. Ashleigh had prepared with research in advance for this excursion, so she walked over to Malta's nearest furniture shop to pick out some suitable ones.

If all her frames looked too similar, it'd look like she'd done exactly what she was doing- picked all the frames out at once solely to keep up appearances. So, Ashleigh made sure to choose a variety: plain white for the city photo, bronze with scalloped edges for her graduation, and a light wooden frame for her dead, fake parents. Then, blue plastic for the holiday photo, and glass for the lab.

Now that that was sorted, it was time to look for ingredients.

The Frontier had sets of typical chains for pretty much any establishment imaginable, but Psamathe appeared to operate by its own standards. Ashleigh normally bought her food from the few shops that were dotted around Olympus, but this event called for something special.

Psamathe had its own supermarket chains- Ashleigh opted to go to Spacerose over Spacebury's, purely because it was closer.

Spacerose was ridiculously cold- it felt as if she'd walked into the freezer section by accident just by stepping through the doors. She checked her list- one chicken, some vegetables, stock, butter, herbs, flour, and potatoes. Plus, wine for herself and Mary (as Lilian's week was already fully booked), and fruit juice for Newton.

After buying all the components for her party (and grimacing at the ridiculous prices), Ashleigh took her shopping bags back to her apartment.

On the day of the party, Ashleigh packed up Prowler's pen and folded it away in a corner of her living room, which was now decorated by the photographs.

Now for the real challenge- though she still had hours before they arrived, Ashleigh made sure to meticulously prepare her counters in order to be as efficient as humanly possible. If she timed it perfectly, she'd be able to have the chicken finished at the exact moment they arrived.

(But, should she double-check?)

She decided to call Mary.

"Ashleigh!" Mary said, a few moments later. "Is everythin' alright?"

"Are we still on for six?"

"Aye, last time I checked. Lookin' forwards to seeing ya!"

"Yeah." Ashleigh said, checking her watch. "Great- see you then."

A few hours and a lot of cooking later, Ashleigh heard her doorbell ring just as her oven timer beeped.

Door first. Prowler hopped onto her shoulder from where he'd been munching on some vegetable offcuts, and they went to greet her guests.

"Hello, dear!" Mary called as the door opened. Newton rushed forwards into his signature tackle-hug. "Woah, Newtie! We've talked about this!"

"It's okay." Ashleigh laughed. "But can I have my legs back for a minute? I need to get the food out of the oven before it burns."

"Oh no!" Newton said, stepping back quickly.

"I'll be right back. Can you hold him for me?"

Newton nodded, and Ashleigh carefully handed Prowler to him. Then, she hurried back to the kitchen and took the chicken out of the oven. The other food was ready and still warm: her preparation had been a success. (Did Mary seriously go to all this effort every time she invited her for dinner? It was astonishing.)

She gave herself time for a brief, relieved sigh, and then went back to her guests.

"It's ready." She announced. "You can come through and sit down now."

Due to the circumstances under which Olympus was built, most of the apartments had the exact same layout- Mary and Ashleigh's included. Newton didn't spare her living room a passing glance as he relied on muscle memory and made a beeline for her kitchen after handing Prowler back. Mary walked through slowly, however, and glanced around.

"You've redecorated?"

Ashleigh shrugged, extra casual as she placed Prowler into his living room cage. "I picked some stuff off the floor."

"Ooh, and are these photos new?!" Mary walked over to inspect her graduation picture. "Look at ye! So adorable."

"I just... dusted them off." Ashleigh said, walking a little quicker towards the kitchen before she could look at any of the others.

Mary's eyes lingered on the photograph of her 'parents' for a second, but she followed Ashleigh without another word.

Newton was fidgeting with the small cutlery that Ashleigh had borrowed from  Mary the previous day.

Looking at her two guests, one of which was very young and fussy, Ashleigh suddenly realised that she had not taken into account portion sizes when cooking this meal. It would probably serve about seven, comfortably- she had three.

(It didn't matter. She could just eat the leftovers herself.)

"Are ya sure ye dinnae want a hand?" Mary asked, leaning around to face her from where she'd sat down.

Ashleigh shook her head. "You're the guests." She insisted.

"Okay! I won't complain, then."

Ashleigh, recalling the recipe's instructions, cut the chicken into appropriate portion sizes and put the pieces onto a plate, which she placed grandly onto the middle of her table. (This was met with an appreciative 'Ooo!' from Mary.)

Then, she put the plates with the potatoes and vegetables on either side, and the jug of gravy on the end of the table.

Finally, Ashleigh retrieved the bottle of wine that she'd bought, went back to her seat at her table, poured a glass for herself and Mary, and then sat down.

"This looks lovely." Mary said, emphatically. "You've done an amazing job, dear."

As she was unable to articulate a response to that praise, Ashleigh instead gestured vaguely to the food in front of them. "Enjoy!"

Before getting her own food, Mary took Newton's plate and cut up some chicken into small pieces for him.

"Newtie, do ye remember how to be a really kind dinner guest?" She asked him, which Ashleigh supposed was a gentler way of saying "Please be nice about this food even if ye dinnae like it."

Ashleigh set her face accordingly- even though she'd tried to avert this situation, she knew that some things defied all logic of food preparation.

Newton looked at his plate as if he was staring down a bug through a microscope.

(Well, shit.) Ashleigh thought. (You can't win them all.)

He picked up a piece with his fork, and ate it, slowly. Mary looked even more anxious than Ashleigh felt.

"It's really nice." He announced, after some consideration.

Ashleigh relaxed back into her chair slightly.

"I'm glad you like it."

Newton nodded, and then began attacking the potatoes with more enthusiasm.

"I had no idea ye were such a skilled cook!" Mary laughed, sounding a little relieved.

"It was an experiment." Ashleigh admitted. "This might surprise you, but I don't host often."

"I wouldn't've guessed."

"Really?"

"I mean- if i didnae already know, I probably wouldn't?"

"That's good enough." Ashleigh sipped her wine. "Though I have to ask- how do you do this so often?"

"I just like doin' it." Mary said, shrugging. "There's not much more to it than that. I like doin' nice things for the people I love, I 'spose, and food is a pretty sure-fire way to achieve that."

"I... see. Wait, is that why you made me so many scones?"

She laughed. "Ah- maybe subconsciously?"

"I'm not complaining, by the way. They were great."

"Well, I havnae made any in a while- I'll have to bake ye some more!"

"What about strawberry biscuits?" Newton asked from across the table. "Can you make those again, too?"

"Of course! I cannae even remember the last time I made those."

"I think I was five." Newton said earnestly.

Mary gasped dramatically "Oh my stars! It has been too long."

Ashleigh hadn't felt adventurous enough for any kind of dessert, so after everyone had finished eating it was time for Mary and Newton to go home.

"Can't we stay longer?" Newton asked, mid yawn. "I like Doctor Reid's house!"

"Come on, Petal." Mary said gently. "It's time for bed."

"You can come back, you know." Ashleigh added. "I'll most likely do something like this again- give your Mom a break once in a while."

This was true- she could see herself doing something like this again.

Mary kissed her goodbye, and Newton held up his hand for a sleepy high-five.

Ashleigh watched the pair leave until they were out of sight. Her apartment was... quiet, suddenly, even though it had only returned to its natural state.

She did not want to think about this, so she went back inside.

It was good that she lived alone, she reminded herself. She needed space in order to keep her secrets intact, and she already saw the Somerses enough. But even with this affirmation, she couldn't quite shake the feeling of emptiness that their departure left her with.

Ashleigh collected up some smaller leftovers and placed them in a bowl for Prowler. After she retrieved him, she set about clearing up.

She couldn't help recalling her few days in space with Mary as she put away her pans and stored the rest of the leftover food in her fridge. They'd had a system that had worked then- if not long term. That was the first time since she was a child that Ashleigh hadn't minded living with someone else; she'd liked the company amid the complete silence of outer space.

But did she even want to live with Mary? As nice as she was to be around, she knew that she couldn't bear the thought of her learning the truth- and she'd already made enough allowances as it was.

That was a thought for another day.

"Bedtime for you." She said softly to Prowler, who obediently hopped onto her outstretched hand, still clinging onto a last bit of carrot.

With Prowler nestled safely in his cage in her room, Ashleigh turned her attention to going to bed herself.

After she'd done everything necessary in her bathroom, she noticed a missed call from Mary as soon as she retrieved her phone from her bedside table.

She called her back immediately- Mary picked up just as quickly.

"Look outside!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Still on the line, Ashleigh opened her blinds and peered out.

"I don't understand what I'm meant to be-"

"At the sky!"

Ashleigh angled her gaze towards the sky, and-

"Ah."

Olympus's winters were characterised by thick clouds and heavy rain. With the absence of any deciduous trees, the sky clearing was the real signal that spring had begun.

"Look at that..." Ashleigh said.

They talked, aimlessly, for a while- it was a fine substitute for being physically present with Mary, she supposed. But she still felt the distance between them in the slight static of her phone's audio.

"I'm going to bed." She said, finally- more out of responsibility than any personal feeling in the matter.

"Ach, it is late." Mary agreed. "I'll see ya soon, darlin'."

"See you."

Ashleigh hung up, and was alone.

Chapter Text

Another work day had passed- almost. Even as the other scientists packed up for the day, Mary sat at her desk, furiously tapping something on her computer.

"Psamathe to Mary?" Gibraltar called from across the lab. "We're done- it's time to go!"

Mary waved him off. "I'll just be a minute."

"Alright- but don't be too long. We did some good work today! Go team!"

He punched the air enthusiastically, and then (thankfully) left. Paquette followed close behind, not-so-subtly glancing back towards the two of them as the door slid shut.

Ashleigh wheeled her spinny chair over to Mary's workspace- though the latter barely seemed to notice, as she was too absorbed in whatever she was doing.

"What's going on?" Ashleigh asked, leaning over her shoulder to look at what she was working on.

Now Mary looked around to face her.

"Nothing's goin' on- I just need a minute to finish up."

Ashleigh folded her arms. "And how long is this 'minute' going to be?"

"As long as I need." Mary said, distractedly. "Look, ye dinnae have to wait around- that's not yer job anymore, remember?"

"That's not the point." She put a hand on her shoulder and tried to gently nudge her away from her desk. "Come on, it's already late. And you know how Lilian feels about you working overtime."

Mary shrugged her off. "What Lil doesn't know cannae hurt her. I won't take long!"

"Yeah, right. That might work on Paquette or Gibraltar, but I'm too used to this by now."

Mary rolled her eyes, but Ashleigh spotted the corners of her lips twitching against her will- Mary turned away to hide it, but it was too late.

"Okay." Time for a new tactic. "How about this: either you go home and continue this tomorrow, or-"

"Or what?" Mary raised her eyebrow. "I'm sorry to tell ya this, darlin', but yer not the most threatenin' person in this city by a long mile."

"Or..." Ashleigh brushed off the insult as she thought of a suitable ultimatum. "Or, I'll have to carry you back."

"Psh." Mary said dismissively. "Empty threats won't work on me."

"You don't believe I can do it?"

In response, Mary stood up from her chair (success!) and rose up to her full height. She looked down at Ashleigh pointedly.

"Not all the way home, no."

"I'm stronger than I look." Ashleigh said, shrugging.

"Well, I dinnae doubt that." Mary paused for a minute, then sighed and glanced back at her desk. "...I see. Very clever, dear."

Ashleigh smirked. "Permission to shut down for the night?"

"Oh, go on then."

She leaned over and shut off Mary's computer with a triumphant click.

"Come on, let's go." Ashleigh shrugged off her lab coat and motioned towards the door with her head.

"Right! Right." Mary paused, and looked at her. "But, seriously..."

"What?"

"Could ya do it? Pick me up, I mean."

"I told you- I'm stronger than I look."

Mary raised both her eyebrows.

"What, you want a demonstration?" She laughed. "Here, look-"

Ashleigh held her arms out, and after some hesitation Mary lowered herself backwards so that she was held lengthways across Ashleigh's body, with one of Ashleigh's hands supporting her back and the other around her legs. (Bridal carry, Ashleigh was quite certain it was called.)

Mary giggled as she was lifted off the ground- though not that high, as height was not one of Ashleigh's many strengths.

"Believe me now?"

"Never doubted ya for a second."

"Great. Can we go home?" She caught herself. "I mean-"

"I ken what ya meant." Mary wiggled her legs from where they comically stuck out to the side. "Okay, you've proven yer point- ye can put me down now."

With some relief, Ashleigh lowered her back onto the ground. Mary took off her own lab coat and fished her ID card out of her pocket, slapping it onto the door.

She looked back at Ashleigh.

"Ready to go, dear?"

Ashleigh nodded, slightly stunned. She was actually experiencing some mild dread, but that was something to think about later.

"Coming." She said, quickly regaining her composure.

"I feel awful about it, honestly." Mary said suddenly as they walked back.

"What?"

"Newton. It's more than a year on from when we got the branthium, but I still can barely get myself away from my work. It's like I'm on another planet when I'm in the lab-"

"It's not your fault there's an energy crisis." Ashleigh said- her own personal alarm suddenly felt much less significant.

"Aye, but this is when he needs me the most, ye ken? It'd be different if he was older."

"Mhm."

"I mean, last year I was even thinkin' of sending him to stay with Mum, just so there'd be someone around for him- I suggested it to him, but he didnae want to go."

She sighed, and brushed her hair back from her face.

"I just... I cannae help wonderin' if he'll end up resentin' me for this in the future."

"That's just ridiculous."

"Ye think so?"

Ashleigh shrugged. "It's not like I can predict the future. But remember when we came back from space?"

"I remember..." Mary's eyebrows were still creased.

"Remember how happy he was to see you?"

"Aye..."

"And, by the time he's old enough for that to be possible, he'll also be old enough to understand. Hell, I'd say he does that pretty well already."

She nodded, and put on a smile. "I hope yer right. Thanks, dear- and I'm so grateful that yer around for us, too. If it was just me like I'd originally planned, I dinnae ken where I'd be."

"You know it's no problem- I'm happy to help."

"Well, I appreciate it all the same. See ya later?"

"Yeah. See you."

They split off: Mary to pick Newton up from his after school club, Ashleigh to go back to her apartment and contemplate her existence.

Because Ashleigh had her own disturbing realisations to deal with: Mary was heavy. Except Mary wasn't heavy- rather, Ashleigh herself was getting weaker.

That was it: she'd been too wrapped up in her safe, sciencey, nonviolent job, that she'd forgotten to maintain the natural state of a Pilot. Sure, she'd been maintaining a healthy diet- better, even, than how she'd eaten in the Frontier on any given day- but that alone wasn't a substitute for pure physical activity.

She needed to go back to the gym. Back when she'd first moved to Psamathe, Ashleigh had tried to search for something a little more familiar to do in her spare time, and that had eventually led to her discovering Malta's wide network of underground fighting rings. She'd even kept the habit up for her first year or so on Olympus, before she'd gotten so distracted.

Returning to those rings was her ultimate goal, but she needed to reacclimatise herself first. So gym it was- she must've had a membership at some point.

On her next day off, Ashleigh made the commute down to Malta in search of the old familiar route.

Even though she'd managed to find her membership card, it has expired by about a year. At least she was spared from the hassle of trying to procure an entirely new membership- renewal would surely be a lot easier.

"Hello! How can I help you?" The person at the front desk asked.

Ashleigh placed the plastic card flat down onto the desk. "I need to renew my membership."

"Okay." She inspected the card. "Give me a second- I'll look you up on our system."

She leaned down to use the desk's computer.

"Ashleigh... Reid.... okay, got you here. Are all your details the same?" She rotated the screen to show Ashleigh, who barely scanned any of the information before nodding.

"That's fine."

"D'you want to upgrade your membership?" She changed the screen to a brightly coloured advertisement, complete with a table comparing Ashleigh's current membership with the bonuses of the 'premium plus' one. (Which were, as far as Ashleigh was concerned, not significant enough to be worth the price.)

"No."

"Great!" She chimed, seemingly unfazed, and slid the card the short width of the desk towards Ashleigh. "You're all set. Have a good day!"

Ashleigh took the card back, nodded briskly again, and was off.

In an environment like this, it was far more likely to find someone with more than a few scars. Therefore, Ashleigh didn't take any effort to conceal hers as she changed into the sportswear that she'd found in the back of one of her drawers. (Besides- it was a gym. Nobody that she interacted with on a regular basis would be here.)

She even tied her hair up- for the same reason as her constant use of high collars, this wasn't something that she was in the habit of doing at the moment.

What to do first?

Considering recent crises, weights.

Ashleigh picked up the familiar-looking weight, and- was that heavier than normal? She sighed and moved to something lighter. This reacclimatisation might take longer than she'd originally expected.

After she'd found a more appropriate weight, she got into a steady rhythm of lifting. Ashleigh knew on a theory level that she needed to take slower steps to improve, but it didn't make it any less boring. Maybe she should've invested in some earphones.

She cast her mind elsewhere- and returned to the training facility owned by the Apex Predators.

That facility was nowhere near beginner friendly. The Predators prided themselves on being the best mercenaries in the business, so anything that insinuated they were less than that would have just been insulting. The other difference that set it apart from gyms typical of Psamathe was how combat-oriented it was. Whenever she'd visited, Ashleigh hadn't wasted time on weights- she hadn't needed to. Instead, she'd spent most of her time training with the facility's combat bot with any melee weapon she could get her hands on.

In fact... did this gym have one of those?

She put the weight down and looked around the room. There were several doors leading to other areas- she walked closer so she could read the labels.

Treadmills... yoga... combat. That looked promising.

Ashleigh unlocked the door and poked her head in.

It was a small, almost square-shaped room with a shelf of weapons at the side of one wall. The other wall had some brightly-coloured sticker decal that would've given any Apex Predator mercenary an aneurysm. And there, in the middle of the room, was a hunched-over training bot.

It didn't look very used. Ashleigh stepped closer to inspect it. Its 'hands' were both positioned to hold weapons, and there was a bright target painted on its midsection.

Moving back to the weapons wall, (a disappointingly small collection, but she'd have to make do) Ashleigh noticed a small console underneath it that seemed to control the bot.

The menu gave a list of weapons, as well as a difficulty slider from one to five.

Ashleigh chose sword, of course. And she set the difficulty to five. The console flashed up a message: Equip sword.

She picked up two swords from the shelf, and proceeded to slot one into the bot's left hand. All the weapons were blunt, disappointingly, with a thick rubber edge to prevent accidents. The sword was lighter than she was used to, but she could work with it.

The bot juddered to life, painfully slowly. Ashleigh noticed paint on the floor like a carpet, stretching the length of the room. This seemed to be marking out the bot's path, as it advanced on her at a snail's pace, waving the sword around with no apparent pattern.

Ashleigh parried it, and just knocked it off balance enough to jab at the target. A little red light blinked where its head would've been; she hadn't realised this was a fencing simulator. Maybe it wasn't intended to be, but the bot wasn't advanced enough for less structured swordfighting. (Then again, this was Psamathe.)

Still, a sword fight was a sword fight- it was just comforting to have a weapon in her hand again.

After she'd hit it once, the bot began to speed up, which was some relief. There was still no pattern to its attacks- it just moved its sword arm around faster.

It was... slightly more challenging. Ashleigh's long-dormant reflexes fired back into action as she stepped backwards and forwards, blocking the bot's advances at every turn. This wasn't an opponent to outwit or analyse- all she had to do was rely on her own strength and speed as she tried to land a hit.

She found an opening to strike it again, and again a second light blinked on in line with the first. There appeared to be one left; the bot took a minute to recalibrate before it slowly raised its arm again- and jabbed directly at her before she had a chance to react.

It actually hit. She hadn't expected that. The rubber edge hit her arm with a dull thwack.

"Huh." She muttered. It actually hurt a little- or maybe she'd gotten less used to pain in recent years.

Before she had time to ponder this, the bot had already stepped back and held up its sword for another attack.

Ashleigh didn't understand how exactly the bot was programmed, but she could tell that it had become more offensive since her last hit. She adopted a defensive stance in turn, firmly planted her feet on the ground, and prepared to parry its strikes.

She blocked one, but it recovered too quickly to provide her with a sure opening. So she waited until the bot- suddenly not so random, it seems- attacked her again to sidestep quickly, and parried it with a heavy swing. Once again, this threw it off balance, and she stabbed at the very centre of the marked target.

A third light switched on, turning the row a bright green.

'Combat complete.'

A robotic voice intoned, and the bot abruptly swung its arms downwards and walked backwards to its starting position.

'Please return all weapons to the storage area.'

Ashleigh collected both her and the bot's swords and obediently placed them back onto the shelf.

The console shone invitingly... so Ashleigh went another round. Which quickly became five.

Ashleigh proceeded to make regular trips to the gym over the next few weeks. The combat was nowhere near her desired difficulty level, but it provided at least a nice, gentle warmup before she attempted the real thing.

(The person at the front desk still tried to persuade her to upgrade her membership, but she declined each time.) 

"What have ye been up to recently, darlin'? Feels like I've barely seen ya outside work."

Now that the weather was warmer, she and Mary had taken to meeting for walks around the city in their free time. Newton walked beside his mother, decked out in a bright raincoat and wellies.

"I've been making the most of my gym membership." Ashleigh answered.

"Oh?" Mary's eyes widened. "Yer really committing to this carryin' me home thing, aren't ye?"

"That's right." She smiled- it wasn't entirely incorrect.

"How strong are you, Doctor Reid?" Newton asked her with sparkling eyes.

Ashleigh waved her hand vaguely. "Strong enough."

"Can you pick me up?"

"Of course I can."

Mary laughed. "Doctor Reid can pick me up with no problem- you'll be a doddle, dear!"

Newton looked up at her pleadingly. Ashleigh glanced at Mary, who gave her a slight nod.

"Alright, then."

"Can I have a piggyback? Please?"

"Sure."

Ashleigh turned around, bent down slightly, and Newton hopped onto her back- she could tell he was well-practiced. She secured his legs and he placed his hands onto her shoulders to steady himself.

After that brief interlude, Ashleigh stood back up and they continued on their way.

"Speakin' of Malta..." Mary began, fiddling with her hair, "I've been in touch with Mum."

"Have you told her yet?"

The following 'eeeh' noise from Mary informed her that she had not, in fact, done that.

"She's invited us round."

"Let me guess- dinner?"

"Just tea."

"Nice. Wait, us?"

"Mm-hm. She's probably caught on by now."

Ashleigh tilted her head to approximate a shrugging motion, as her arms were currently occupied with making sure Newton didn't fall off her back.

"Why's that bad?" Newton piped up. "Grannie always talks about how she wishes you had a girlfriend or boyfriend."

Mary pulled a face. "Aye, well, when that does happen, Grannie has a habit of asking the poor soul a lot of questions, which isn't always fun for 'em."

"Your mom's known me for years at this point." Ashleigh insisted. "It'll be fine."

"Yer sure? I could always make an excuse for ye."

"It can't be worse than that grilling Paquette gave me, remember?"

Mary laughed. "True. I dinnae think she's ever asked that level of interrogation."

"In that case, I'll be fine. When's this happening?"

"She suggested this Friday, but I said I'd talk to ya first."

"Well, you've talked to me." Ashleigh pointed out. "I'm not busy then."

"Alrighty. Thanks, dear."

Back to Malta in just a few days- and Ashleigh had a feeling she'd be doing more than just drinking tea on Friday.

She felt ready: while she was next planetside, perhaps she'd also see what she'd missed in her old favourite fighting ring?

It would be a waste not to. 

Chapter Text

"Is the bag new? I havnae seen it before." 

Mary pointed to the shapeless bag that sat on Ashleigh's lap. 

"Oh, this?" Ashleigh looked down at it nonchalantly, as if she'd forgotten it was there. "It's not new- I'm just going to run an errand after we see your mom." 

Mary nodded. "Good thinking- it won't be long, so you'll have plenty of time."

Ashleigh kept a steady hand on the bag. Inside, it contained some clothes that she hadn't worn for years: a cropped shirt in a comfortable fabric, loose trousers for ease of movement, and heavy boots. These would be essential for her later 'errand' . 

So, what was the story she was using this time? It had to be watertight. 

What had she told Paquette last year? Ah, right- her parents were consultants, so she'd moved planets a lot as a kid. And then they'd both died- Mary's mother was unlikely to pry into the details of this, as she was a genuinely nice person. College in Angel City- though that part was true. Then, PhD, and random lab assistant work for a few years before she'd met Mary- and the rest was history, so to speak. 

Why was she worried? This would be easy.

From the outside, Mary's mother's apartment was not distinguishable from the multitude of other Malta apartment blocks that surrounded it. However, as soon as the door flung open, Ashleigh was hit by a wave of warmth and sentimental decorating. 

"Hello, dears!" Mary's mother called, welcoming them inside. 

"Hi, Mum." Mary said, quickly hugging her before Newton launched himself at his grandmother. 

"Hello, Newton- and Ashleigh!" She said, looking directly at her. "So good to see ye too."

"Hello." Ashleigh responded, smiling like she knew exactly what this woman's name was. 

"Right, I've just put the kettle on- make yerselves comfortable."

"I thought you said she invited us round for drinks?" Ashleigh asked Mary in a low voice, once her mother had disappeared.

"She did." Mary confirmed. "Drinks just mean tea for my mum. I'm not actually sure if she drinks anythin' else... ever." 

Ashleigh shrugged. "That works for me." 

Mary's mother appeared to favour warm tones in her interior design, and her daughter's habit of putting family photos absolutely everywhere seemed to be a hereditary trait. 

The daughter in question sat promptly down on a floral-patterned sofa, and Newton hopped onto a cushion next to her. Ashleigh sat on her other side.

"Newton, would ya like some squash?" Mary's mother asked a few minutes later, coming into the room with a teapot and some mugs. 

"Yes, please!" He chirped. 

"Gotcha. Help yerselves while I'm sortin' that." 

Ashleigh got up and grabbed a mug for herself and Mary. Mary thanked her quietly, and blew on her own mug to cool it- Ashleigh mirrored her to kill time until her mother returned. 

"Alrighty." Mary's mother said once she walked back in, holding a plastic cup filled with a bright purple juice. "So, how have you lot been? It feels like forever since we've had a good catch-up." 

"Work's been alright." Mary said, glancing at Ashleigh out of the corner of her eye. "I think we're makin' moves in the right direction."

"Ah, well, that's great to hear! And what about you, Newton?" 

"I'm learning about space in school." He supplied happily. "It's super fun! I have to make a model of the Outlands and the Frontier."

"How interesting! Well, you've got the best person in the universe to help ye with that." 

" And we went to Doctor Reid's house the other day." Newton continued, beaming.

"That's nice." Mary's mother nodded.

"Yeah." He said. "She made us dinner 'cos she and Mum are going out now."

To her credit, Mary's mother did a decent job of trying to look adequately surprised.

(" Not... exactly how I wanted to break the news ." Mary muttered under her breath.)

Ashleigh braced herself, though she wasn't completely sure what she was bracing herself for.

"How lovely !" Mary's mother simply said. "I'm so happy for ye both." 

She laughed at Mary's expression. "What, did ye think I was about to hit her with some intense questionin'? Ye forget, you've been bringin' her to dinner and whatnot for years- I think I have a pretty good measure of her character by now." 

"I just know yer track record, is all." Mary said lightly, as she relaxed back into the sofa. "Anyway, what's been up with you?" 

"Ach, nothing excitin'. Oh, but yer siblings are coming to visit next week! You should come down- it's so hard to get ye all in one place at the moment."

"Well, ya picked the right planet to settle on." Mary smiled. "But we definitely will- Newtie, do ye even remember yer aunt and uncle?"

Newton shook his head. "Nope." 

"Wow. It really has been too long." 

"They said they're stayin' for a couple of days- maybe we'll visit Olympus for one of 'em?" Her mother suggested. 

"I'll arrange some passes, no problem." Mary promised. "Good thing ye told me now!" 

Mary's mother laughed. "Aye, they dinnae always give me such good notice when either of 'em visit-"

She was interrupted by a series of loud knocks on the front door. 

"Want me to see who it is?" Mary asked.

Her mother shook her head. "Stay there, and enjoy yer tea- it's probably my new blender." 

" Well, this is a surprise! " Ashleigh could vaguely hear Mary's mother by the front door- she sounded very happy to receive her new blender. "I thought ye were comin' next week? " (Apparently, this was not the blender delivery.) 

" No, Mum, this is always what we agreed ." An unfamiliar voice- lower, and also Scottish, laughed. 

Mary's eyes widened, and she swivelled her head towards the sound.

"I ken those voices." She said, in a slightly baffled tone. "Well, Newtie- you said ye didnae remember yer aunt and uncle?"

This was not what Ashleigh had prepared for. But she had her story straight- it'd be fine. 

"You won't believe what good timing this is!" Mary's mother said as she walked back into the living room. She pointed to the sofa. "Look who it is!" 

Ashleigh had seen Mary's two younger siblings in photographs many times, but she'd never met them in person before. Though even without prior knowledge, she would've been able to spot the resemblance instantly. Both of them had Mary's nose, and her brother's eyes resembled hers almost exactly. However, they both took more after their mother in terms of height and hair texture. Unlike both Mary and her mother, though, her sister's hair was a little lighter- more similar to Newton's in colour, while her brother's hair was more of a reddish-brown.

"Mary!" Her sister dashed forwards as Mary got up from the sofa to hug her. 

Mary laughed. "God, how long's it been?" But her sister's attention was already elsewhere, as she gasped loudly, looking back at the sofa. 

"I cannae believe it- Newton ?! Yer so tall ! Last time I saw you, ye were just a wee baby ." 

"No way that's Newton." Mary's brother chipped in, shaking his head emphatically. "I refuse . He does not have hair." 

"Disbelieve it all ye like, but the livin' proof's right here." Mary said proudly. From the sofa, Newton wiggled his hand in a shy wave- Ashleigh sat as still as she could, in the hope that she would be left there undisturbed. 

"Oh- and I'm sorry- we havnae met, right?" Mary's brother said a minute later, clearly addressing her. He held out a hand for her to shake. "Jay. You're here with Mary, I guess?" 

"That's right." Ashleigh nodded. "She's talked a lot about you."  

"God! Right!" Mary broke off her conversation with her sister and turned around. "Kate, Jay, this is Ashleigh- my girlfriend. Ashleigh, these are my siblings." 

"Ohhhh," Kate said, smiling, "I had a feelin' that was the case. Hey, weren't ye on the launch? I watched it on the news."

"I was." 

Mary sat back on her spot on the sofa between Newton and Ashleigh. Her siblings each took a chair on the other side of the room.

Meanwhile, Mary's mother had already left for the kitchen. "Would either of ya like some tea?" She called. 

"Whose kids do ye think we are?" Jay responded- Kate made an agreeing noise to back him up.

"Right answer!”

"Newton," Kate returned her attention to him, "just how old are ye now?"

"I'm seven and a half!" Newton swung his legs on the sofa. 

"No way! I can tell yer gonna take after yer mum in terms of height."

Newton turned to Mary with wide eyes. "Really?!" 

"Probably!" Mary shrugged. "Honestly, ya might end up even taller." 

Newton seemed stunned into silence with this revelation. 

"Also, I need the full story with you two." Kate said, pointing between Mary and Ashleigh. "Tell me everythin' ." 

"Ooh..." Mary brushed her hair back from her face. "How far back d'ya want me to start?"

"Full. Story." 

"Alright! Well... it started back after I had Newton, when I was lookin' for an assistant to help me with my work."

" That's where I recognise ye from!" Kate interjected suddenly. "That news article Mum kept sendin' around!" 

"Aye, I'll get to that. Ashleigh was the very first person I interviewed- I mean, back then I was only interested in her as a potential colleague , of course, but that's still how we met." 

Ashleigh was content to let Mary tell this story, so she just resolved to nod along at appropriate moments. 

"I ended up hirin' her, and we were on track for her to just help me for a few years until Newton started school, at which point I'd be able to go back to work at full capacity again. Unfortunately!" She paused for drama, though everyone could tell what was coming. "The energy crisis. We all had to move up to Olympus, and Ashleigh came with us! Then, we spent years tryin' to figure out the whole branthium thing, we went to space, and when we came back Lil decided to hire her permanently for the project- before, we'd agreed that Ashleigh would stop being my assistant once we got back, ye see. So, we kept workin' together after that for a while, and somewhere around then was when I must've realised I was in love with her? I eventually got the courage to ask her out  at a gala that Lil hosted last December, and I was just lucky that she accepted!" 

Mary beamed at her; Ashleigh smiled back. She just wished that 'luck' had as much to do with it as Mary evidently thought. 

"That's so sweet!" Kate looked as if this was the most delightful thing she'd witnessed all week. "And what about you, Ashleigh? Are you from Psamathe as well?" 

"Oh, lay off her!" Jay shook his head. "She's only used to two and a half of us- all five must be way too overwhelmin'." 

"Well, forgive me for wantin' to know a little about the secret girlfriend my sister's neglected to mention up until now!" 

"It's alright." Ashleigh said levelly- it was a good thing she'd prepared to be intensely questioned. "But no- I'm from the Frontier." 

"So, what brought you all the way to the Outlands?" Kate leaned forwards in her chair and rested her head on her hands as if she was conducting an interview.

"I'm a phase scientist." Ashleigh shrugged, repeating the same old script. "Not many job opportunities for that where I'm from- not when I was looking for a job, at least." 

At that moment, Mary's mother came back into the room with more mugs of tea, which thankfully distracted the Somers siblings long enough for Ashleigh to catch her breath. 

"Ye alright?" Mary asked quietly. "We can leave whenever you want- they'll be here for a few days, so I can catch up with them another time."

"It's alright." She replied. "Really- I can take a few questions." 

"Whereabouts in the Frontier are ye from, exactly?" Mary's brother asked, resting his mug on his knee. "I lived around Typhon for a few years for work."

(" Ooh, lay off her! " Kate mimicked quietly.) 

"I moved a lot." Ashleigh said vaguely. "Never been to Typhon, though."

Jay pulled a face, evidently trying to weigh up how much his reaction could potentially offend her. "It's.... interesting."

"Not worth the trip?" 

He gave the tiniest shake of his head. 

"Noted." 

This seemed to satisfy the pair- Jay began to engage Newton in a conversation about his interests, and Mary and Kate caught up, which allowed Ashleigh to switch off for a while. Instead, she passively observed the family: how they chatted, how they playfully teased each other. It felt like filling in missing puzzle pieces- Ashleigh could easily imagine Mary growing up with these people supporting her every step of the way. If this was the kind of environment she'd grown up in, it was no wonder she'd turned out the way she had. 

Ashleigh wondered what that meant for her. 

"Right!" Mary said suddenly, lightly tapping her legs with each palm. 

Her family looked up.

"Lovely surprise to see you all, but we'd better get home. How long are ye on Psamathe?"

"Three full days- we're leavin' on Saturday." Kate said.

"Alright, that's enough time. Let me know yer plans, and I'll arrange some visitor passes for you three to come up and visit Olympus." 

"Sounds good!"

Mary stood up- this was obviously Ashleigh's cue to follow suit. She hung back while Mary hugged each of her relatives goodbye. 

"It was nice to meet ya, Newton. You too, Ashleigh!" Kate said, waving at her.

"Nice to meet you." Ashleigh echoed politely. 

Mary glanced at her watch. "Right, we'd better be off if we want to catch the next transport back. Come on, Newtie!" 

Ashleigh grabbed her bag from by the door, and followed Mary out, making sure that Newton was coming with them.  

"Oh, right ! Yer errand." Mary stopped once they'd all walked past the corner where her mother's apartment was situated and glanced back. "Have ye still got time for that? I ken that went on for a little longer than we anticipated."

"It'll be fine." Ashleigh said, as she checked the time- perfect, in fact. The fights didn’t usually start until the evening. "I'll see you tomorrow." 

"Alright! Have fun with, ah, whatever yer doin'." 

"Bye, Doctor Reid!" Newton added. 

"Bye."

Ashleigh stood still until they'd walked off a suitable distance- she didn't want to be followed. Then, she checked her phone to regain her bearings, and walked right into Malta's centre, towards the parts of the planet that seemed to exist in an entirely different dimension to the part that the Somers family occupied. 

Chapter Text

The kind of place Ashleigh was headed didn't show up on any map. Nor could you navigate yourself to find it- you simply had to know.

On her way, she stopped by the first bar she could find. She made a beeline for the bathroom and quickly changed into her fighting clothes, folding her other outfit into her bag. She'd even packed a hairband to pull her long hair back into a ponytail- by the time she left the tiny cubicle, she almost looked like a different person.

"You gonna buy a drink?" The bartender called as she started to walk back out. Ashleigh shook her head- she couldn't afford anything less than her best reflexes this evening.

The further she walked into Malta, the more the city's shiny exterior seemed to chip away. Psamathe was a planet known for its strict law enforcement, but apparently there were still places on the planet that the Council wanted to sweep under the rug. (Or rather- whichever particular billionaire had jurisdiction over this area. Lilian had complained about them before, but then Lilian complained about all of her fellow Council members, and for a good reason.)

Just like how she'd done back in the Frontier, Ashleigh kept her head up and walked straight towards her destination. She had no reason to be afraid of anyone here- no matter how tough they thought they were, she'd faced their real counterparts countless times on every planet she'd ever visited. These people were nothing in comparison.

She eventually found the ring she used to frequent a few years ago. Though it didn't look like much from the front- a run-down looking building that was just clean enough to not attract too much attention- Ashleigh knew that this was an intentional front to hide what went on inside.

A dim but decently furnished bar met her inside. Music pounded over speakers and people sat around, chatting. (Ashleigh wouldn't have gotten changed here, however. This wasn't the sort of place you could afford to let your guard down in, even on Psamathe.) Besides, none of these people were solely here for the bar.

Along the back wall was a door that one could fairly easily miss if they didn't know what to look for. Ashleigh headed straight for it.

"Lost, sweetheart?" Someone called out from behind her. She didn't stop or turn around, but it did make her miss the days when she would carry a weapon everywhere by default.

Ashleigh opened the back door without hesitation- it was unregulated, as she expected. On the other side was even thicker darkness than the dim bar, and the music was all but blocked out by the constant roar of cheers and screams from the fighters and spectators.

She pushed herself up to a balcony, where she could get a good view of her opponents. This particular ring specialised in hand-to-hand combat with no weapons, so the fighters were the usual types that one might expect to see in boxing or wrestling matches. From what she could see, nothing looked to have changed that much since her last visits, but she still tried to size up the competitors as much as she could from her vantage point.

Most of these people didn't look like professionals- their style was uncoordinated and sloppy. Ashleigh could tell that the vast majority had never had to truly fight for their lives; there was something almost too hesitant in their movements.

A few stuck out to her, though- and she was proven right minutes later, as one of the men that she'd been observing knocked his opponent to the ground for the third and final time. Ashleigh could see him grin with a bloody nose as the spectators went wild around him- she wanted to knock that smug look right off his face. That would be satisfying.

After she'd watched a couple more matches, Ashleigh found herself growing restless. It had been too long since she'd found herself in a real fight, and she'd missed it- she missed winning.

She pushed herself back through the crowds- if one thing had changed in her few years of absence, it must've been how many people turned out to these things- towards a desk near where she'd come in.

There was already too many people around the signup desk. Ashleigh sighed, and tried to locate the back of the queue, before she remembered: this wasn't Olympus. She didn't have to put on a polite front for these people at all.

Ignoring the little mutters of protest from the people around her, she carefully elbowed her way into the middle of the crowd. Eventually, she reached the front.

"Name?" The person behind the desk asked, seemingly unbothered by what she'd just witnessed.

Ashleigh blanked. How did she want to be known to these people? She wasn't a professional, respectable physicist here.

Something came to her: "Ash."

"Okay, 'Ash'," The woman didn't make much of a subtle show at looking her up and down, and she appeared very skeptical at what she saw. "line up over there- someone will get you into a match. Good luck."

Ashleigh nodded stiffly, and made her way over to where the woman was pointing.

"Ash?" A man asked when she arrived. He held a tablet and wore an earpiece- Ashleigh couldn't help but acknowledge the efficiency of this setup.

"That's right."

"Okay... wait here until this match is done. I'll try to find someone for you to fight." He scanned the crowd around him.

Ashleigh waited, impatiently, until he pointed into the small crowd.

"You."

She looked, curiously, as a woman stepped forwards. She was an inch taller than Ashleigh at most, but her body was noticeably unscarred. Ashleigh felt her opponent's gaze on her, but her expression was difficult to read. She only hoped that she was intimidated by the years of combat experience that her body clearly illustrated.

Behind her, the previous match had finished, with the loser collapsed onto the ring's floor. Ashleigh locked eyes with the winner- the man she'd been watching earlier- as she was directed onto the stage.

You next. She thought.

For now, she had to focus on the opponent in front of her. The woman was putting on a brave face in front of the crowds, but she stood awkwardly opposite Ashleigh, as if she didn't quite know how to hold herself.

Ashleigh couldn't help wondering if too much word of this place had gotten out- this wasn't the usual type of contestant that she'd expect to fight in a place like this.

"To the floor." The man with the earpiece instructed- his voice was magnified around the room. "First to three- fight!"

Rushing into a fight was a rookie move- Ashleigh was no rookie. She hung back for a second to assess her opponent, and found her strategy mirrored back at her. Her opponent circled around the other half of the stage, with no sign of that changing.

Ashleigh realised that she was waiting for her to make the first move. With a stronger-looking opponent, she would've hesitated, but this one seemed very unlikely to take her by surprise.

She lunged into the centre of the ring and aimed her fist at her opponent's stomach before she had the chance to flinch. The woman stumbled back onto her heels, giving Ashleigh the chance to sharply push her by the shoulders.

She toppled onto the grimy floor like one of Newton's unsteady action figures.

"First point to Ash!"

The crowd roared, even though Ashleigh had barely tried. Still- she'd missed this.

A grin crept onto her face as her opponent dusted herself off, embarrassed. Ashleigh walked easily backwards to her starting position, where she waited until she heard the bell chime that signalled the start of the next round.

When it mattered, Ashleigh fought surely and effectively- aiming for her opponents' weaknesses with precision so she could eliminate them quickly with minimal risk to herself. But here, where she was obviously in no danger? There was none of the same urgency.

As if she'd learned nothing, her opponent was back to circling the ring like she knew her loss was already inevitable. She held her hands defensively, but made no move to bridge the new gap between them.

Ashleigh rolled her eyes- she was no fun.

"If that's what you want." She muttered, and moved to rush in again.

This time, her opponent caught her arm with both hands before she could deliver another punch. Ashleigh shook herself backwards, out of her grip, and threw up her arm to block her attempt at fighting back.

Ashleigh sidestepped out of the way of the kick that followed, and this time knocked her on the shoulder- enough to throw her off, but not enough to secure another easy point for herself.

If she wanted a fast fight, she would've stuck to the gym's training bot. All Ashleigh was waiting for was for her opponent to slip up so she could knock her down again when she'd really earned it.

There it was. After another half-knock to her stance, her opponent tried to punch her without fully regaining her balance. All Ashleigh had to do was lean slightly to the side and watch her tip forwards, stumble on her feet- and she was down with just the tiniest push, her nose smashing hard into the ground as Ashleigh scored her second point.

Her opponent stood up shakily, and wiped a mixture of blood and grit off her face. Ashleigh, meanwhile, was unscathed and still grinning as the crowd's praise washed over her.

"Match point!" The announcer yelled. The bell chimed.

Her opponent now looked desperate, and desperation only led to more stupidity. She seemed to have dropped the defensive act entirely, and instead rushed at Ashleigh- who sidestepped again and grabbed her arm, twisting it so that she spun out of control. She was still standing, though- if Ashleigh wanted her down that quickly she would've already been on the ground.

She went for her again, and this time Ashleigh adjusted her stance and blocked her head-on.

"So close!" She whispered, mockingly, so that only her opponent could hear her. Some of her opponent's nose blood dripped onto her forearm.

The woman let out a frustrated growl and tried to kick her again. To her credit, her foot did actually connect with Ashleigh's shin, but it didn't do much to rattle her.

Wisely, her opponent disengaged and stepped back. Ashleigh wasn't in a hurry, so she did the same at the opposite edge of the ring.

She resolved to let her opponent come to her, and sure enough- she did.

Again, Ashleigh blocked her, and again her opponent tried and failed to get her off balance. Just as she made her third attempt to overwhelm Ashleigh with sheer brute force, Ashleigh dodged neatly, and finally put her out of her misery with a heavy, satisfying swing of her fist.

"ASH WINS!"

The woman lay there, so still that Ashleigh wondered if she'd knocked her unconscious. But that wasn't her concern- the crowd was screaming madly and chanting her name, and that's what she was really here for.

If you think this is impressive, Ashleigh thought, you should see how I fight when I'm actually in danger.

"Need a minute to cool off?" One of the officials asked her as she stepped off the stage.

Ashleigh shook her head and looked into the crowd of contestants. "Who's next?"

Her next few matches yielded similar results- she barely had to change her strategy to take down her second opponent in a similarly drawn-out fashion. The ones that followed posed a little more of a challenge, as the organisers finally got the hint and started recruiting a wider range of matches for her to go up against.

She idly rubbed a brand-new bruise on her shoulder from one of the few times that her most recent opponent had landed a hit on her. An important part of fighting was knowing one's limits, so she sat by the small bar at the side of the room with a plastic cup of water.

People milled past her- though she had their attention in the ring, as soon as she left the warm spotlights she blended in with every other attendee at this place. (Ashleigh found that she preferred it that way.)

Checking her phone revealed a few missed texts from Mary. Ashleigh held her phone close to her chest as she quickly read over them- it was almost hard to believe that she was only a quick transport trip away.

'my fam are comin up to olympus tomorrow- wanna meet with us? xx'

Ashleigh hesitated, and put her phone away- she didn't know what kind of state she'd be in tomorrow yet.

The time made her pause, though- the last transport of the day would set off in just under an hour's time. If she was quick, she'd be able to get one last match in and still have enough time to walk back to the station so she wouldn't have to find some quick accommodation in Malta for the night.

Ashleigh hopped off the stool and tucked her phone back into her bag, striding back to the ring entrance.

One more match. Then she'd go.

"Another match?" Earpiece man said, trying to hide the obvious skepticism in his voice.

"This'll be my last one." Ashleigh replied, looking past his shoulder to watch the match that was currently playing out. "Can you give me an actual challenge this time?"

He shrugged. "I'll see what I can do. Wait here."

Ashleigh pulled out her phone while she waited for earpiece to come back. Something about the date made her remember something- that was it. She had to check in with the Predators tomorrow.

She hadn't talked to them since before the gala, and it felt like everything had changed since then. With some surprise, Ashleigh realised she was actually dreading tomorrow's conversation.

"Ash." Earpiece said from behind her, an odd inflection to his tone. "Found someone for you."

Ashleigh turned around, and was met with a wall of fabric. A look upwards confirmed that this was one of the fighters that she'd noticed earlier. Evidently, he recognised her too. (Maybe Earpiece expected her to back out?) 

"Seems you've caused a stir with my crowds tonight." He said, in a voice that sounded like gravel.

"Seems that way." Ashleigh responded coolly.

He grunted, and stepped heavily up onto the stage.

Ashleigh followed him- in comparison, her footsteps barely made a sound on the hollow steps. The crowd's cheering melded into an incomprehensible mix of their names.

She'd been watching this man fight. He was a heavy hitter, and made up for his comparative lack of movement speed with sheer size and quick reflexes. That meant Ashleigh would just have to be faster, and patient enough to wait until she could gain the upper hand.

This time, the announcer didn't even bother repeating the rules of the match, and simply yelled: "FIGHT!"

Her opponent's confidence made him complacent, and this was obvious in the way he rushed towards her right off the bat. Ashleigh supposed this would've caught most of his opponents off guard, but she'd been studying him- she expected this.

One... two... dodge. She counted in her head, and leapt out of the way right before she would've been trampled- her opponent charged right into the tough cords that encircled the ring. Ashleigh looked back as she sprinted away, and saw him push himself back, blinking in shock and humiliation at the thick imprints left on his shiny face.

"Point to Ash!"

If only this man was as stupid as he looked. It was an easy first point, but Ashleigh knew he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

She re-ran her strategy as she waited for the next round to start. He was probably too heavy for her to knock him down herself, so she had to use his own strength against him. This wasn't a new concept for her- Ashleigh had faced opponents like this in the Frontier more times than she could count. And, after she finished her mission and returned, she surely would face even more.

She wasn't sure why the dread from earlier persisted at that thought- but there was no time to think about that, as her opponent was advancing on her again, noticeably slower than last time.

Ashleigh ran again- her one advantage over this man- to behind him. When he turned around, she ran again. She knew it would take a while to tire him out, but it was the best chance she had if she didn't want to end up completely flattened.

The more he had to change directions to find her, the redder and shinier his face became. But, he hadn't slowed yet. She couldn't afford to take any risks.

Dodge, dodge, dodge. She and her opponent were in a stalemate as long as neither of them gave up their preferred tactic. Ashleigh kept her eyes on him at all times, waiting for the moment that he'd tire just a little.

Eventually, she'd ended up taking to jogging lengths of the ring, just out of his reach. As she watched, he gradually- but surely- began to slow down.

Now she had to watch him even closer. Ashleigh slowed too, to conserve her energy- she knew she'd only get one chance this round to engage him close up.

He must've taken this as a signal that she was beginning to tire, too, as he lunged towards her with a surprising burst of speed- it just wasn't enough. Ashleigh ducked around him, and launched a swift punch to the sure weak point that was his stomach. He staggered, and she shoved him with all her strength onto the floor.

"Match point!" The announcer could barely be heard over the crowds- evidently not Ashleigh's opponent's crowds anymore.

One more point. Ashleigh thought hazily as she resumed her starting position for what she hoped was the last time that night. One more point, and I can go home.

Home... for now.

Until she had to leave everyone- Mary, Newton, Lilian- leave them all behind, and go back to being another subordinate in a business where she did nothing but follow someone else's orders for whatever money she could get.

At what point had she stopped looking forwards to finishing her mission? Had she ever looked forwards to it? What was back there that was worth giving up everything she'd gained simply by disobeying- taking control of her own life for once? What status would she gain in the Frontier, where she'd already hit the average life expectancy for a mercenary? What would being financially secure for life be worth when she'd never been happier that when she was on Olympus?

Was any of it worth it anymore?

Stop thinking like that. She reminded herself. You've already made your choice. There's no backing out of the Apex Predators.

Ashleigh shook her head- and looked up to her opponent once again advancing on her.

She dodged, but his massive hand was already reaching out- it closed over her forearm like a vice before she could get away.

He tightened his grip, to the point where Ashleigh was afraid her bones would snap under the pressure. If she tried to move, she knew she wouldn't come out in once piece, so she had no choice but to let him drag her by the arm into the center of the ring.

He must've been really pissed at her, because his strategy that Ashleigh had observed so far suddenly broke down. Instead of simply slamming her to the floor like she anticipated, he lifted her up by her arm, until they were almost at eye level. Ashleigh's legs dangled pathetically in the air- she couldn't remember the last time she'd been this scared, or in this much pain.

(The only thing scarier than a strong beast was an unpredictable one.)

You're a mercenary. She thought, desperately. You've fought guys like this before. Thinkthinkthink-

She couldn't prise his grip away, or do anything to that area without risking more damage to her arm. She scanned his face, looking for something, anything- and settled on his bloodied nose from an earlier fight.

That looked broken- and therefore, painful. All she needed to do was shock him so she could get away.

His grip cut further into her forearm. Ashleigh knew she didn't have any time to waste- she jammed the heel of her free hand right into his broken, bloody nose.

He bellowed, his hands flying up to his nose- and Ashleigh dropped to the ground like a rag doll. She landed clumsily on the ground, just upright enough for it to not count as a point against her, and scrabbled herself away to a safe distance.

Her legs ached, her arm throbbed, and a messy bruise had already appeared where he'd grabbed her. (That would be difficult to hide, Ashleigh thought bitterly.) She was just lucky it was her right arm, so she still had her dominant one left.

Her opponent stormed towards her, which meant it was time to go back to dodging. Thankfully, he'd now slowed noticeably, so she decided to just go back to her earlier successful tactic.

But Ashleigh was tiring too, and her body wasn't as good as handling shock as it used to be. If he got hold of her again, she wasn't sure if she'd even be able to continue fighting.  Her opponent still showed no sign of giving up, and Ashleigh knew that she herself had a limit on how long she could hold out for before she became dead meat.

There was a gamble that she could make, but it was a risky one. But if she was right, and her opponent was tiring as much as she was, chances were he'd want this fight to end quickly, too.

Ashleigh slowed more than she needed, and stopped throwing herself so dramatically out of her opponent's range. For his next few attempts to regain his hold on her, she swerved just barely out of his reach, as if she was on her very last legs.

She could see the confusion in his eyes be swiftly overtaken by rash opportunity as he suddenly pounced forwards, just as she'd expected him to. He threw all his weight into this, clearly expecting this to be what secured the match for him, and-

She leapt backwards and to the side; like at the start of the fight, he lost his balance and collapsed onto the ground.

Ashleigh stayed still, breathing shakily. She could barely hear the announcer, or the crowds: her mind was instead several thousand feet above the planet's surface.

She'd tried to deny, as she had historically denied many things, that she knew she would take no joy in finally completing the mission assigned to her. The only reason she'd kept up the lie to herself was because she thought she had no other choice in the matter.

But what if she was done having her life dictated for her? What if she wanted to do only what she wanted, without obligation to the organisation that had once ensured her survival? She didn't need them anymore.

She collected her bag in a daze and left for the station without even stopping to change.

That day, Ashleigh had been part of two polar-opposite worlds, and she knew for certain the one that she wouldn't be able to live without. She didn't even need a pro-con list for this one.

At the station, she fished out her turtleneck and replaced her jacket with the soft wool that brushed comfortably against her bruised skin.

It was logical, she told herself. First she'd disobeyed them to keep Mary safe. Then, she'd disobeyed them to become closer to her. Now, she was disobeying them so she wouldn't have to leave her new life behind.

She was too full of adrenaline still for the full extent of the possible repercussions to sink in, as she sat alone in the last transport back to Olympus. That would come later, but her mind was already made up.

Life was too short to resign herself to being a mercenary forever- one temporary fixture after another, on and on and on until she died.

She was a scientist, first and foremost now. And the Predators couldn't tell her what to do anymore.

Chapter Text

The first thing that Ashleigh realised when she woke up the next morning was that she'd forgotten to reply to Mary's text. For a few moments while she reached for her phone, she forgot the reason why she hadn't responded yet -until she leaned onto her bad arm and everything came back to her.

Strangely, she could feel her pulse increasing just at the thought of her previous revelations. Even stranger was the fact that she still had zero intention of reversing her decision.

She tapped out the message, still lying in bed:

'Sorry, not feeling good today. Hope you have a nice time.'

Mary replied as soon as the message delivered:

'oh no!! get well soon darlin- need me to bring anything? xx'

'That's fine, thank you.' Ashleigh typed back hurriedly. There was only one thing she had to do that day- call the Predators.

What was she going to do? What could she do? There was no way she could openly defy them, even when she was separated from them across entire star systems. She'd just have to pretend that everything was still fine, and then figure out some way of getting out of the mission later without anyone she cared about dying or finding out that she'd been lying to their faces for years.

"And how the fuck am I going to manage that?" She mumbled to Prowler, who ignored her in favour of chewing up a cardboard tube.

Occasionally, Mary was afflicted with an unfortunate state in which she was trapped on standby and unable to do anything while she was waiting for something that would happen  later in the day. Ashleigh almost felt like that that day- the minute she wanted to put her mind to something, the deadline of the call that afternoon (it was always in the afternoon, to account for time differences) loomed over her.

After achieving her one task of the morning- putting an ice pack on her bruised arm- she sat on her sofa and submerged herself in her own miserable thoughts.

When she was younger, the mercenary business had been the only viable way to put her skills to use and get enough money to go through college and get her PhD. It was a matter of survival, not choice- she was good at fighting as a teenager, and even though none of the big mercenary groups hired anyone under eighteen (more due to their lack of experience than any real ethical boundary), some of the smaller organisations turned a blind eye to kids wanting to make some easy money ferrying stolen goods or whatever other relatively-low-risk tasks they could give them.

Ashleigh had completed high school by the time she was sixteen, so she had a good few years of surviving off odd jobs and theft until she scraped together enough to get to Angel City and apply for the university's phase science course. One of the major operation bases for the Apex Predators was also in the city- they were known across the Frontier, of course, but mostly operated from planets in the Wichita System.

So, she saw her chance. As soon as she had her accommodation sorted, she walked right into the base (they didn't need to be secret- everyone knew their reputation) and demanded to be signed up.

She hadn't hesitated for a second back then. Being a mercenary was an inevitability, a reliable way to stay relatively financially stable until she had a good, secure science job like she'd always planned.

But the next year she'd been pushed forwards for Pilot training, and a couple of years after that she'd had to take time off to work on her PhD. She'd expected to feel relieved, but instead she found that she only felt restless. She missed it. And sure, yes, she'd tried to look for positions in something to do with her field when she'd finished that whole ordeal, but she hadn't looked very hard. She already had a secure lifestyle (with a minor risk of getting killed), and suddenly upturning it in a universe that had already wanted her dead for a very long time didn't seem at all appealing. So, when the Predators offered her the position of Commander at the tender age of twenty six- an all-time record for the Predators, at that- she'd accepted without a second thought. Even when she'd been assigned the job that led her to where she was today, she'd initially approached it as a mercenary rather than as a scientist.

She thought back to the ring the previous night. She liked being a mercenary, didn't she? It gave her a sense of achievement- or did she just like fighting? Did she even like fighting?

Ashleigh wasn't sure anymore. She'd been a mercenary for so long that she almost couldn't picture her life under her own control, without someone dictating what she did and where she went.

There were a few things that Ashleigh was sure of- she tried to focus on those.

She knew that she wanted no part in this mission anymore.

She knew that she loved Mary, and didn't want her to die. Nor did she want any of Mary's family or friends to die.

She also knew that she was the only person who could prevent the impending disaster that would befall Project Iris if she didn't do something to avert it.

Outlandish scenarios began to present themselves: she'd tell the Predators the wrong date for the project's completion, so that by the time they showed up to seize the branthium the lab would already be cleared out. Or, she'd simply ask Lilian very nicely to borrow one of her fellow Council members' private armies on her behalf and see how they fared against the most elite mercenaries in the Frontier.

The biggest problem would be explaining away her solutions- Ashleigh didn't for a second think that she could get away with either of those options without a lot of suspicion.

She checked her watch. Fourteen minutes until the call- Ashleigh felt her pulse pounding in her ears again.

Fourteen agonising minutes later, her phone rang right on time.

"This won't be long." She said, answering preemptively.

The person on the other end of the line sighed heavily. "Does your time estimate still hold?"

"I think so." Ashleigh responded. Her mouth felt dry. "At a minimum. Could be even longer- who knows?"

"And no progress has been made? None?"

"Nothing significant enough to mention. I've told you before- we can't pull refined branthium out of thin air."

"Can't you do anything to... I don't know, speed that up? Our client will get impatient eventually."

"I'm doing my best over here." Ashleigh lied. "I don't know what more you want from me."

"Better than your best. Do you need me to restate the importance of this assignment?"

"Of course you don't." Ashleigh tried not to sound too irritated. "Is there anything else?"

There was a pause. "Actually, do you have a minute?"

"For what?" She replied warily.

"It's getting worse over here." They said. "If this job wasn't so high-stakes, we would've pulled it already so you'd be back. It seems like- every job ends in a clash with these guys. They're calling themselves something stupid now, too: The Dragon... something."

"That's unfortunate."

"They're sending out more and more backup, too, which means I have to pick up the slack with more admin work! I have a life too, you know! I don't want to be stuck on the phone behind a desk all day."

"Maybe they'll send you out next." Ashleigh said, half listening. She had no interest in this person's woes, or the woes of the Predators.

"I've considered requesting it. At least it'll be a quicker way out than waiting to die naturally."

"Why not resign?"

They laughed sharply. "Resign? Reid. Please. I manage jobs at the highest levels of classification. I don't get to resign- you of all people should know that."

"My mistake."

"Maybe I should put in a request to be reassigned to intel... oh, speaking of, how's Somers?"

"What?" Ashleigh asked, a little too quickly.

"How's Somers? I did some more background research on her- fascinating person, isn't she?"

"Mm-hm."

"How'd you even get her to trust you, by the way? Doesn't seem like your area at all. Did you make friends with her or something?"

"Something like that."

"... You gonna miss her?"

"Of course not." Ashleigh said, robotically.

"Good. Because, you know, our client will need scientists who know something about all the branthium they'll be getting. You were right to keep her alive- she might be more of an asset than we originally thought."

Ashleigh held the phone at arms length so she had the opportunity to steady her breathing.

"Right. Yeah." She said, hoarsely, bringing the phone back next to her ear. "That makes sense."

"Okay. That's all I have to say- anything else from your end?"

"No." Ashleigh said flatly. "Nothing else to report."

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, life on Olympus went on. Ashleigh kept feeling as if something significant should happen as a result of her internal decisions, but everything around her carried on exactly as normal.

"Hey, we should be able to see some meteors tonight!" Mary said, as she cut up Newton's food for him. Ashleigh was eating at Mary's apartment that day, in return from when she had invited the Somerses around again the previous week.

"Really?" She asked.

"Aye! Not a whole shower this time, but we should still be able to spot at least a couple."

Newton looked up, mid-mouthful. "Can I see them this time?"

"Of course! But not too late- it is still a school night."

"Yessss."

After they had all finished eating, Newton rushed off to find the small (but functional) telescope that Mary had given him for Christmas.

Instead of following him, Mary reached up to find something in her cupboards. Ashleigh hovered by the kitchen table.

"What are you looking for?"

"Hot chocolate, for me and Newt. Would ye like some, too? Or somethin' else?"

Ashleigh shrugged. "I might as well see what all the excitement is about."

"What?" She turned around. "When was the last time ya had some?"

"When I was a kid. I grew out of it, you know?"

Mary shook her head. "You'll change yer mind after ya have some of mine."

Ashleigh watch her make up three mugs with interest. After putting in the warm milk and chocolate powder, she added some extra spices, before taking a spray cream bottle out of her fridge and adding an elaborate swirl to two of the mugs.

"Fancy." Ashleigh commented.

"Want some on yers?" Mary shook the bottle enticingly.

"Sure."

Ashleigh thought she would be done after the cream, but as she watched a mixture of tiny marshmallows and star-shaped sprinkles were dropped onto each mug. As a finishing touch, she poked a paper straw through each tower of cream.

Mary placed Ashleigh's mug down ceremoniously onto the kitchen table.

"I think there's more toppings than hot chocolate in there." Ashleigh joked, swirling the straw around so that the cream melted into the drink.

"It's better that way! Ready to go?"

She nodded, and Mary picked up the other two mugs.

"Newton?" Mary called. "Get yer coat and shoes on!"

"Okay!" He yelled back from a different room.

Newton was waiting impatiently by the door by the time Ashleigh and Mary had walked the length of the apartment from the kitchen to the front entrance. Mary passed him his mug, which he held tightly with both hands after tucking his telescope into his coat pocket, as she unlocked the door.

They made their way to the bench just outside the front of Mary's apartment. Newton hopped onto the bench and took a long sip of his drink.

"Is it good?" Ashleigh asked, sitting down on the other side of the bench with her own mug.

"Mm-hm!"

"Okay. I'll see for myself..." She drank through the straw experimentally. It was good- whatever Mary had added to it had enhanced the flavour significantly, and even the mountain of toppings that had merged into the liquid didn't feel like too much.

Meanwhile, Mary stood in front of the bench, head craned towards the sky.

"Aye... we should see 'em from here." She said thoughtfully, and then sat herself in the gap on the bench that Ashleigh had left for her. "How's the hot chocolate?"

"Sooo good!" Newton cheered.

"It is." Ashleigh agreed- though she'd had to ditch the straw, as it had started to melt into the drink as well.

"Good to know." Mary said proudly, as she raised her own mug to her lips.

The trio sat quietly in anticipation for something to happen.

"I saw one!" Newton yelled suddenly. "Look!"

Ashleigh's attention hadn't been wandering, but she still took a second to locate the tiny blip of light that streaked across the sky.

"Och, yer right!" There was a note of relief in Mary's voice. "Are ye gonna make a wish?"

"Hmm... I wish-"

"Wait! You cannae tell us!" Mary interjected. "It won't come true then!"

Newton clapped a tiny hand over his mouth in horror. "Oh no! Really?"

"Good catch, Mary." Ashleigh laughed. "You can't go wasting wishes like that!"

"What did you wish for?" Newton asked, though it was unclear who exactly this question was directed at.

Mary smiled. "Secret. It was a good one, though- promise."

"What about you, Doctor Reid?"

Ashleigh wasn't much in the habit of making wishes.

"Also a secret." She lied, shrugging. "I don't understand what you think you'll get out of asking us- unless you don't want our wishes to come true?"

"I want them to come true! If they're good wishes."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see." Mary said, checking her watch. "I think it's time for bed, petal- ye dinnae want to be too tired for tomorrow."

"Already? Can I stay out for five more minutes?"

"...Alright." She conceded. "Five minutes won't hurt- but it's bedtime straight after that, okay?"

"Okay!" Newton swung his legs happily. "I hope we see another meteor!"

"Hopefully!" Mary agreed, glancing upwards again.

Ashleigh had almost lost hope when another meteor shot into Psamathe's atmosphere.

Newton gasped. "Two wishes!"

"Two wishes!" Mary agreed. "Aren't we lucky?"

This time, Ashleigh did make a wish:

I wish, she thought, that I'd never had to rely on the Predators. That I'd ended up here some other way. I wish I knew how to keep them safe.

The meteor sparkled, and disappeared- burnt up, as a result of plain physics rather than any cosmic superstition. Ashleigh knew that.

Mary shifted next to her. "Alright, dear, that's time." She got up, and Newton reluctantly followed.  "I'll be right back."

Ashleigh half-watched them head back towards the apartment. Sparkly meteors couldn't distract her fully from the new information that had been eating away at her for weeks: the Apex Predators had a new interest in Mary. Keeping her alive wasn't the difficult part anymore- now her problem lay in keeping her away from them, and all still without her knowledge.

And there was still the matter of how she was going to sabotage her own mission-

A sudden noise made her jerk around- as she did so, she felt something warm hit her chest.

The sudden noise was Mary announcing her return; the 'something warm' was the hot chocolate that had previously been in her mug and was now decorating her favourite turtleneck. It wasn't just warm, either- it was wet, and horrible, and seeping through her shirt.

"Oh no! Did I startle ya- I'm so sorry-" Mary rushed forwards as soon as she spotted the stain. "D'ye want me to find some spare clothes for ya to wear?"

Ashleigh glanced downwards, and winced. "You don't happen to have a spare turtleneck, do you?"

(Who was she kidding? This was Mary- of course she did!)

Mary stood back and thought for her second.

"I... ah, actually, I dinnae think I have any that aren't in the wash, or all packed away at the moment- I could try and find one, if-"

"It's fine." Ashleigh said quickly, in an effort to backtrack. "It's just a stain- nothing I can't handle."

"Are you sure? I could find ye somethin' else, but-"

"Yeah, it's fine." She repeated, a little more forcefully. Mary didn't get why she needed a turtleneck- how could she make her understand? Could she make her understand? Or, she could just distract her and hope she'd forget. "Come on, we're missing the stars."

Mary's eyebrows scrunched together, but she returned to the bench nonetheless.

"If yer sure...?"

"I am. But thank you."

Mary leaned comfortably against her as they waited out to see if they could spot any more meteors, which was a welcome distraction from the soggy wool of Ashleigh's sopping wet turtleneck.

"See anything?" Ashleigh asked after a while, squinting up at the sky.

"Nothing since I've come back. Are ya gettin' cold?"

"No- just wondering if I'd missed any."

"Mmh." Mary didn't budge from her position. "But seriously, are ye sure about yer jumper? That cannae be comfortable..."

"I said it's fine." Ashleigh insisted. "Please, stop worrying about it."

"Ashleigh..." Mary sighed slightly, and moved away so they were face-to-face. "I dinnae really ken how to say this, but... is there somethin' ya... don't want me knowin' about? Is that why ye dinnae want fresh clothes?"

"What do you mean?" Ashleigh asked, a little too sharply.

Mary sighed again. "I wasnae gonna bring it up, but... do ye remember when we were gettin' into our space suits, back before the mission last year?"

"I don't really understand where you're going with this..."

She brushed her hair back from her face. "Uh... well... I accidentally caught sight of ye when I was doin' up the clips on my suit. Not on purpose!" She added quickly, flushing a little, "I felt terrible in the moment- still do, honestly. But the point is, I- ah- saw yer back..." She trailed off.

Ashleigh knew that her face must've been as red as Mary's from embarrassment.

"You did?" Was all she could say.

"Aye. I'm sorry- I never said anythin', because I figured it was something for ye to decide whether to talk about or not."

"How much..." Ashleigh asked slowly, "...did you see?"

"I mean, it was only for a second- I barely registered the, uh, scars, before I looked back."

"Right." Ashleigh winced. "And what did you... think?"

Mary looked at her blankly. "What did I-?"

"You know- when you saw them. Me."

"That I felt horrible for accidentally invadin' yer privacy? I'm not sure I follow, darlin'..."

"I mean," Ashleigh clamped her hands onto the wooden bench slats as if to steady herself, "there's a reason that I take such pains to cover them up."

"I kinda figured that." Mary admitted. "But like I said, I didnae want to push ya to talk about something ye dinnae want to."

"That's... considerate of you."

"I shouldn't've brought this up-" She said hurriedly, "I'm sorry-"

"It's fine." Ashleigh tried to keep her voice level. "You don't have to apologise."

With a little hesitation, Mary shuffled back down into her previous position.

After a pause, she spoke up again.

"If it's okay for me to ask, why do ya keep them covered?"

"I..." Ashleigh sighed as she tried to think of a version of her reasons that was acceptable for Mary to hear.

"I knew, coming here, that Psamathe is a very different place to most of the Frontier. Safer. Scars like mine are very normal where I come from, but not so much here. I thought it would be better to avoid anything that would attract... unwanted scrutiny."

"Ah." Mary said quietly. "Ashleigh... ye ken it's not a big deal at all, right? Ye dinnae have to be afraid of what we think of you- nobody's gonna judge ye for yer past here. Especially not me."

Ashleigh smiled wanly, as Mary could not see her. She wished that that was the case- but she knew that there was no chance of her past avoiding judgement.

But, if this was one part of her past that she didn't have to hide from Mary, it was better than nothing.

"Thank you." She whispered.

Mary chuckled softly. "There's nothin' to thank me for- honestly, I think they make ya look cool."

"Really?"

"Aye!"

Evidently, Mary had never seen the average mercenary in the Frontier- Ashleigh had actually gotten off lightly compared to some of her former colleagues. But still, anything that didn't result in Mary being completely disgusted with her and hating her forever was ultimately a win.

"You know," Ashleigh said, with some hesitance, "if you did want a closer look sometime... I'm sure that could be arranged..."

Mary made a surprised little noise, and started laughing so uncontrollably that Ashleigh worried for a second that she had said something wrong.

"Ah- well- in that case, I might take ye up on that!"

She couldn't see from their current seating position, but Mary's response sounded as if her eyebrows had rocketed right to the top of her forehead, and she was still shaking with silent laughter.  Ashleigh laughed as well, grateful for the sudden switch in mood.

"Do you think we're going to see any more meteors tonight?" She asked, changing the subject.

Mary hummed thoughtfully after she'd calmed down. "We could- but that depends on how long ye want to wait."

"I don't mind waiting, but I might have to  accept your offer after all. Wet wool is not pleasant."

"I was hopin' you'd say that." Mary said, moving away from the bench again. "Come on- let's find ye somethin'. Do ya need a shirt as well?"

Ashleigh nodded. "That would be good."

"Gotcha. I can top up our drinks while we're in, too."

Inside, Mary gestured towards her room. "Take yer pick- though it all may be a little long for ye."

"I really appreciate it."

"It's nothing, really!" She leaned over and delivered one of her customary kisses to the cheek. "I'll just be in the kitchen. More hot chocolate?"

"Please." Ashleigh said, smiling. "I didn't get enough of a chance to enjoy it last time."

"Alrighty! See ya by the front door in a few."

Ashleigh waved as she stepped through the door to Mary's room. It was as messy as she remembered, albeit in a completely new mess to last time, but there were enough clothes in Mary's wardrobe for her to grab something without feeling too weird about going through her possessions, even though she had been given express permission to do so.

With no particular desire to stick around, Ashleigh folded her hot-chocolated clothes under her arm and returned to the front door. Mary emerged from the kitchen with refreshed mugs- the toppings just as fancy as before- and passed one to Ashleigh before retrieving her keys. She saw Mary's eyes flicker very briefly over her exposed neck before diverting upwards to meet her own.

"Shall we?" Mary asked.

Ashleigh was more careful with her hot chocolate this time, as they sat quietly under the stars. She lost track of how long they'd been out there, until Mary yawned from next to her.

"You're tired?"

"Of course not! Just waitin'..."

It was peaceful- Ashleigh was reminded of being alone with Mary in space. It was so peaceful, in fact, that she could forget about the future for a second and just focus on where she was right now. All she needed to do in the present was to sit right there, with Mary, stargaze, and drink some excellent hot chocolate.

Often, Ashleigh regretted the decisions she had made in life. This was not one of those times.

Mary nudged her suddenly- she was apparently too tired to talk, even if she was doing her best to hide it- and Ashleigh looked up, towards where she was pointing.

One meteor blazed across the sky- and another one, which from her perspective looked so close to the first that they were almost indistinguishable.

"I think," Ashleigh said once the pair of meteors had disappeared, "we've had a good run."

"Agreed." Mary mumbled, from where she'd slumped against her on the bench. "This was lovely, though- thanks for stayin' out here for this long with me."

"It was worth it, for the hot chocolate. And the meteors."

Mary pulled herself up and stood, slightly unsteadily. She checked her watch.

"Oof... look at the time! Are ye gonna be alright gettin' home?"

Ashleigh hesitated, squinting into the darkness ahead of her. Technically, she could make it back. But...

She looked back at Mary, who seemed to  be moving incrementally closer to her apartment.

"Actually..." She began- Mary's eyebrows started rising again- "...could I stay for the night?"

Even in the dark, she could still see Mary smiling at the unexpected request.

"I'm sure that could be arranged, darlin'."

And Ashleigh ended up visiting her bedroom for the second time that night.

Chapter Text

Ashleigh had known how to swim, once. Her class had been taken down to the mouldy pool in the city centre once every few weeks- she'd resigned to paddling around in the shallow end while her classmates (who were a few years older than her and had already learned the basics) swam lengths and splashed each other. Nobody had bothered to teach her- they'd probably assumed that she already knew, just because she'd been moved up a few grades due to dozing through all her science and maths lessons and still getting perfect test scores.

It hadn't seemed that important at the time, after all. When prompted by her half-watching teachers, she'd reluctantly gone through the motions of moving through the water, but her mind was still elsewhere. Swimming was easy- just like everything else- and it was boring, so why bother? It was hardly life-or-death.

Until it was.

She hadn't even heard the water at first- she was too focused on trying to track down her brother, and the sounds of bombing were so normal that she hadn't even thought to turn around.

He'd run off- they'd argued over something pointless, and he'd gotten upset even though they really needed to get home. She remembered finally hearing the flood getting louder while looking for him, and turning around to see the wall of water sweeping through the city.

Now she was running for a different reason, all while screaming her brother's name until her voice was hoarse. When she'd finally spotted him, she grabbed him and kept running, ignoring his protests.

She scrambled up the fire escape of the tallest building she could find when the water caught up to them. Her whole world was tipped on its axis as she lost her grip on the rails- and her brother.

All she could think about were her inadequate swimming lessons. She hadn't learned any strokes, or had a lot of practice at all, but she did remember how to do one thing: kicking. That would keep her alive long enough to find him again.

(Because keeping him alive was her responsibility, and if she hadn't argued with him earlier he wouldn't have run off, and they wouldn't be in this situation at all. This was her fault- she'd failed him.)

In the meantime, all she could do was keep kicking to stay above the water. She was still kicking as she looked around, trying to spot his familiar hair. And when she could see the searchlights from a ship above her in the sky. And when she could hear someone calling out to her...

She woke up, facing a wall that she did not recognise. That didn't do much for her panicking, so she sat up abruptly... and remembered where she was.

"Ashleigh?" Mary's voice was still groggy with sleep. "Are ye alright, darlin'?"

"Completely fine." She couldn't turn around. "Did I-?"

"'Sfine." She mumbled. "But, really- are ye okay?"

Ashleigh did not answer, but lowered herself back onto the bed, still avoiding looking at her. She felt a gentle tap on her scarred shoulder.

"Was it another nightmare?" Mary asked quietly. "Like on the ship?"

After a silence, Ashleigh rolled over to face her, though she still couldn't meet her eyes.

"M-hm."

"I had a feeling." She covered her mouth with her hand while she yawned- Ashleigh realised that she didn't even know what time it was. "Do ya want to, um, talk about it? Or anything?"

"I don't tend to remember them when I wake up." Ashleigh lied.

"Oh. Is that a good thing?"

"I guess...." She could see Mary struggling to keep her eyes open, so she quickly changed the subject.

"What time is it?"

"Uhhh..." Mary turned to look at the clock on her bedside table. "Six past four."

"Damn. I thought it was later than that."

Mary's eyes were closed- Ashleigh thought she'd gone back to sleep when she spoke up again, still keeping her eyes shut.

"Is this- the dreams, I mean- normal?"

There didn't seem to be any point to lying about it.

"Yeah."

Even in the dark, she could see the concern in Mary's eyes as she opened them to look at her.

"Do ye... think it would help to see someone about it?"

It would help, Ashleigh knew that. But she didn't like to think of the steps she'd have to take to get to that point.

"I don't know- I'll think about it." She lied.

"I just mean-" Mary sighed "-ye seemed in a lot of... distress, just then. I understand if it's none of my business, but... it's pretty worryin', seein' ya like that. If there's anything I can do-?"

Ashleigh hoped that the guilt that she felt upon hearing that didn't show on her face.

"I don't know if there's anything you can do, to be honest." She adjusted the duvet around her- she must've messed it up during her nightmare. "I appreciate the thought, though..."

"Alright." Mary reached over and carefully brushed away a bit of hair that was falling over Ashleigh's forehead. Her hand lingered there, for a moment- there was a slight frown on her face.

"Sorry." Ashleigh whispered, noting her expression."

"What did ye say, dear?"

"I said, sorry." She repeated.

Mary blinked. "Wait- what for?"

Ashleigh twitched her shoulders in a tiny shrug. "This was meant to be nice. I hadn't had anything like this happen in a while, so I thought..." She trailed off pathetically.

"Hey. Look." Mary propped herself up by her elbow. "It was nice- really, really nice."

Her attempts to make Ashleigh feel better weren't unappreciated at all, but still obviously untrue. Still, she attempted a smile.

"And, even if ya dinnae want to talk about it, I get that you've been through a lot. I dinnae expect anything from ye- besides, stuff like this is beyond yer control. And I can handle some screamin', just as long as I ken yer okay!"

"That... means a lot." She said truthfully. "There are things that I wish I could tell you, you know? I just-"

Mary shook her head. "It's okay. I wouldn't want ye to feel like ye have to do anything yer not comfortable with, ye ken?"

"Right."

Mary tried to turn away to hide her yawn.

"I almost forgot about the time." Ashleigh laughed, sheepishly.

"Second time lucky?"

She inclined her head in a nod, but Mary's eyes were already closing.

Ashleigh closed her eyes as well, though she was in no hurry to go back to sleep. Already being here was an unexpected (though definitely not unwelcome) experience for her- she didn't want to ruin it any further for herself, or for Mary.

Something brushed against her hand- it seemed to be Mary's hand, and it gently squeezed hers under the covers. Ashleigh opened her eyes just enough to see her, but she appeared to be asleep, smiling softly.

Keeping her eyes in this position was uncomfortable, so she decided to rest them for a while, while keeping her thoughts in check so she didn't wake up screaming again.

She almost opened her eyes in surprise when she heard Mary start to snore next to her- she'd been surprised the first time she heard it, and it had been a long time since the day before the launch. After a while, though, it sounded almost comforting; a reminder that she wasn't alone. (And a good distraction from her own thoughts.)

Ashleigh's eyes still felt heavy, so she kept them closed as she carefully moved into a more comfortable position. She'd try and get to sleep in a bit- for now, she just wanted to lie as still as possible and avoid any further incidents in what had been- for the most part- a surprisingly good night.

"Ashleigh?" Mary, asked, a few moments later. She opened her eyes, and was surprised to see light filtering through the blinds in Mary's room. She hadn't even realised that she'd fallen asleep.

"Sorry to wake ye, dear, but I've got to take Newton to school before work."

On the other side of the bed, Mary was already sat up, getting dressed. Instinctively, Ashleigh felt her face get warm- she decided to stare at the ceiling instead.

"...Of course." She rubbed her eyes and decided to source where she'd put her own clothes the previous night.

"Would ye to stay for breakfast?"

There were her clothes.

"Yes, please." She replied, as she assembled her usual outfit- ready for the day.

"Do you live with us now?" Newton asked at breakfast, looking at her inquisitively.

"Not... quite." Ashleigh said.

"Well, I think you should."

Ashleigh looked at him gravely. "You can't fool me, Newton. I know it's just because you want to see Prowler more."

"Nooo!"

Ashleigh raised her eyebrows.

"... Yeah."

"I suspected as much." She said in her most serious voice.

"Come on, Petal! Doctor Reid's not gonna want to do anythin' if ye keep pestering her all the time." Mary added, sitting down at the kitchen table with her morning coffee (the first of many). 

Newton frowned. "I guess."

"Don't get me wrong- it's great spending time with you two." Ashleigh shrugged. "But what you're suggesting takes a lot of complex details that we haven't worked out yet."

Mary raised an eyebrow. "So... that's not a 'no'?"

"It's not a no..." She confirmed, surprised at how hopeful Mary sounded.

"Alright! Should we talk about this at work, then?"

"Yeah. I should get going, anyway- need to pick up Prowler on my way."

Ashleigh stood up from the table and moved to clear up her plate while Newton scrambled to get his school bag.

"Byeee Doctor Reid!" He called as she left.

"Bye!" She echoed, smiling without even having to intentionally rearrange her expression.

At work, Ashleigh snuck Prowler a treat while she waited for Mary to arrive. She tried to focus on her tasks for the day in the meantime, but she was too lost in thought. She liked staying with Mary- and Mary didn't seem to mind her problems, though she still felt guilty about waking her up in the middle of the night. Ashleigh's own apartment just felt like any other living space, but Mary's felt like...

She shook her head. There was still one obvious hurdle: her reports. (But, the silly little voice in her head countered, who says you have to do your reports from your room? There must be somewhere else on Olympus that you can take a phone call in peace.)

Ashleigh had to admit that the silly little voice in her head had a very good point.

She didn't get the chance to talk to Mary until their lunch break, which had the added bonus of causing her colleagues to clear off.

"Sooo." Mary perched on the corner of her desk. "Have a good morning?"

"I got some things done. You?"

She wiggled her hand. "Eeeh... so-so."

"I just keep thinking about what Newton said." Ashleigh admitted, ruefully.

Mary leaned back, careful to not mess up any of Ashleigh's equipment. "It has been a while since we've talked about the idea. What d'ye think?"

"What do you think? It's your apartment- and your room."

"I mean, I'd absolutely love to have ye- but I also ken that you like yer space."

"That is true."

"Do ya really want to live with me?" She asked. "Or do you just feel like ye should, because we're dating?"

Ashleigh looked at her blankly.

"I'm just makin' sure! I wouldnae want ye to feel pressured into living with me, just 'cause it's a thing that people do."

"I do- at least, I think I do. When I'm alone in my apartment, it feels so..." She sighed. "You know what I mean."

Mary paused and thought for a second.

"Hmm... in that case... how about we give it a go?"

That was more sudden than Ashleigh was expecting.

"What, just like that?"

"Not a full move! Just an- extended stay? So ye can see whether ye like it or not!"

Ashleigh was still a little stunned by the suggestion, but she found herself smiling.

"I think I'd like that."

"Aye?"

"Yeah."

"Well-" Mary leaned down and kissed Ashleigh's forehead. "-We'd better get packin', then!"

Chapter Text

Moving was easy, but only because Ashleigh didn't have much she wanted to take with her. All that ended up in Mary's apartment- all that really mattered- were a few of her essential items, and (most importantly) Prowler's cage. The rest were all trivial items that she could take or leave, which seemed to come as a bit of a surprise to Mary.

Ashleigh had been hesitant at first, but before she knew it a week had passed. She hadn't had a nightmare since first staying with Mary. Things felt... normal? Safe.

She looked over to where Mary was chatting on the phone to Lilian. On the other side of the room, Newton was busying himself with a school book about space travel. Ashleigh was not doing anything- besides stroking Prowler, who lay contentedly across her shoulder.

"Ashleigh?" Mary called, still on the phone. Ashleigh looked over. "Lil's got a message for ye: somethin'... phas-ey."

She sat straighter up on the sofa as Mary turned back to listen (presumably) to Lilian's message. After a minute, she relayed:

"Lil says there's somethin' exciting happening with the Phase Runner tomorrow- lots of other phase scientists are comin' to check it out, too. And she asks if we want to go?"

"Something exciting?" She repeated.

Mary covered the phone's mic. "She's bein' vague. I guess she wants it to be a surprise?"

"If she's encouraging us to take time off work, it must be worthwhile." Ashleigh reasoned. "Should we see what's happening?"

"I think so! And ye can tell me all about phase science, so I ken what's actually goin' on."

"You know I hardly need an invitation for that." She said, smiling.

The next morning, Ashleigh repeated her new morning routine: Wake up. Say 'Good morning' to Mary. Get dressed. Start making breakfast. Feed Prowler. Be joined by Mary several minutes later after she drags herself out of bed. Drink tea or coffee (variable). Be joined by Newton even later, after Mary persuades him to get up. Eat breakfast. Leave for work while Mary takes Newton to school.

She liked this routine.

"Should I see you by the Phase Runner, then?" She asked, during the phase of the morning that usually meant 'leave for work'.

Mary nodded. "I'll be there as fast as I can... though I still havnae gotten an answer out of Lil as to what is actually goin' on."

"I'll let you know if I can find out before you get there." Ashleigh said, shrugging. "If not, well... we'll have to see."

She laughed. "I guess we will!"

Ashleigh set off, Prowler on her shoulder- it wasn't a long walk, but she wanted to be there early for whatever-was-happening.

There was already a crowd standing around the Phase Runners by the time she arrived. She hung back until she spotted Lilian, who waved her over.

"What's going on?" Ashleigh asked immediately.

Lilian gestured grandly to the Phase Runner, which was pulsing blue with energy.

"Well, you're just in time for a monumental development in phase science history!"

"And that is-?"

Lilian smiled enigmatically, and walked away to talk to some other scientists. Chasing after her would draw too much attention to herself, so instead Ashleigh drifted to stand in front of the device that this event seemed to revolve around.

From what she could tell, it looked no different to when she'd first seen it- even despite her mission, she'd been so excited to see the first Phase Runner up close. It was probably the first thing that she'd truly liked about Olympus, before everything that followed.

A sharp tap on her shoulder made her turn around- but she relaxed at the sight of a familiar face.

"Here for the Phase Runner?" She asked.

"No, I'm here for the wildlife." Nova deadpanned. "You too, huh?"

"Yeah- do you know what's actually going on? I assume it's important if you came out here to see it."

"You don't know?" She blinked, and looked up the Runner behind Ashleigh. "They're putting a person through that thing."

"What?"

"Yeah! Human testing. Apparently, they did the calculations and found a way to make it work."

"You don't know if it'll work?" Ashleigh repeated incredulously.

She shrugged. "Not like there's a Runner we can test on back in the Frontier- and that's not even my area, anyway. Though I'd assume your Olympus scientists know what they're doing."

"I hope so." Ashleigh folded her arms and turned back to stare at the Phase Runner. Transport wasn't the initial goal of researching phase energy- discovering that using it to slide objects just in between dimensions caused them to travel very quickly before being spit back out in their dimension of origin had been a lucky coincidence that had spawned a whole extra branch of research. And so far, it had only been used for transporting inanimate objects- very useful for trade in and out of a floating city. Transporting living creatures was another matter entirely.

"So, how are you, anyways?" Nova asked, changing the subject.

"I'm fine... how are you?"

She noticed how Nova fidgeted with her ring- interestingly, it was the same one she'd been wearing at Lilian's gala.

"Pretty good- had to push the wedding back because of the usual Frontier stuff, though, which wasn't great... we have a date set for next year now."

"That's a shame."

Nova paused. "Hey, actually... would you like to come?"

"What?"

"To the wedding! If you want to go?"

"You'd want me there?"

"Of course! And we're down a few guests, anyway- you would not believe how much food we have arranged for this thing. We need all the help we can get, honestly."

Ashleigh wondered briefly if the Usual Frontier Stuff had caused some problems with Nova's memory. Nonetheless, she smiled, and nodded.

"In that case, that would be nice. Thank you."

"Oh! And you can bring a plus-one, if you'd like. Speaking of...?" She raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"I'm staying with her now." (Nova's eyes looked like they were about to fall out of her head.) "As of about a week ago."

"That was quick!"

"Yeah, well..." She smiled now for a different reason. "It's working out so far."

"I thought it would. And here she is!" Nova added, pointing to the familiar figure approaching the crowd.

Mary weaved her way through the congregation of scientists to reach Ashleigh and Nova.

"Ashleigh! Did ya find out what they're doin' here?"

"Phasing humans." Ashleigh replied promptly.

Mary stopped in her tracks. "Oh!"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's excitin'... and terrifying."

"I hope it's the former." Nova chipped in, laughing slightly. "If I wanted to see someone explode, I could've just stayed home."

Behind them, the chatter died down.

"Should we step back?" Mary asked quietly.

Ashleigh nodded. "Probably."

They returned to the crowd, and ended up standing near a tall, older woman to the side. Ashleigh looked up at her out of the corner of her eye- she had rectangular glasses, and her greying hair was kept back with a soft yellow headband. She thought that she recognised her, but she couldn't put a finger on it yet.

The crowd whispered softly amongst themselves as Lilian stepped onto the platform.

"Thank you all for coming! It's so lovely to see so many familiar faces." She stretched out an arm to point to the Phase Runner. "We are gathered here today for a very special occasion: the first human to travel via phase technology- a breakthrough in this field!"

Someone in the crowd whooped, which caused some quiet laughter to break out. Lilian waited for the scientists to settle down before finishing her speech.

"I won't talk for much longer- but before I go, I want to sincerely thank all the scientists who have made this day possible through their tireless work and perseverance." Lilian had her usual Presentation Smile on, but her stance was still a little more tense than normal. "Good luck, everyone!"

"Good luck?" Mary whispered. "That's not doin' much to make me feel comforted."

"I guess even Lilian's optimism only goes so far." Ashleigh whispered back.

Mary hummed thoughtfully.

"They'll be fine." The woman next to them said. Ashleigh looked up in surprise. "I know these people- they're careful."

"Yer a phase scientist as well, then?" Mary asked immediately, turning to meet the woman's eyes.

She nodded. "That's right."

"Have ye travelled far?"

"Not too far- I live on Gaea, and I'm staying with a friend."

"Oh, lovely!" Mary raised her eyebrows. "This friend... ye wouldnae happen to know an Aleki Gibraltar, would ya?"

"I do- do you know him?"

"We work together. I think he mentioned you- ye teach at Suotamo, right?"

"Yes."

Ashleigh looked back around so fast that she almost gave herself whiplash. That's who this woman was-

"GWEN MORRIS?! I love your work- I've read all your books-!" Nova squawked from where she was standing, perfectly voicing Ashleigh's train of thought.

This was the woman who perhaps half of the current understanding of phase science was built off of. Ashleigh felt like she couldn't quite look her in the eye.

"I'm no phase scientist, but I'm still pretty sure I've heard yer name once or twice before." Mary said, amiably. "You've told me about her, right, dear?" She asked, turning to Ashleigh.

(It was some comfort that Morris looked about as mortified as Ashleigh felt. She coughed awkwardly, and motioned towards the Phase Runner platform.)

"Look- I think they're starting..." She said, weakly. Ashleigh followed her gaze to where a couple of people in thick protective gear were being hooked up to some equipment. Someone else stood by, pointing something at the Phase Runner.

"They're checking the energy levels." Morris informed them quietly. "It looks alright, though- they would only cancel it if there was a dramatic change."

"That makes me feel a wee bit better." Mary muttered.

The person with the energy reader nodded quickly and relayed some information to the people in protective gear. Ashleigh strained to look, trying to work out whether it was good or bad news that they were sharing.

After what seemed like an age, one of the people in protective gear began to walk slowly towards the Phase Runner, clearly weighed down by their equipment.

Ashleigh had seen packages in thick metal be transported in and out of Olympus through the Phase Runner before: they would be wheeled forwards on a trolley, and swallowed up by the disc of blue light to be spat out by the terminal and taken away from the city. This was largely the same, though with much more fragile cargo.

A soft gasp rippled through the crowd as the first person (test subject) disappeared into the Phase Runner, strands of energy crackling where they were standing seconds before.

"Ten says they don't come back." Ashleigh deadpanned to nobody in particular. She tried to stand forwards on her toes to spot their return (if they returned).

The entire crowd fell silent again as they waited for some confirmation of what had just happened. Ashleigh kept her eyes on the remaining figure on the platform, who had one hand pressed to the earpiece on their helmet.

They turned slowly to face the scientists- next to her, Mary sucked in a breath- and stuck up a hand in a clear thumbs-up.

The tension in the crowd broke instantly- and turned frenzied when the test subject erupted back out of the phase runner and was propelled halfway across the platform.

"Holy shit." Ashleigh couldn't help the smile spreading across her face- although it had been years since she'd studied phase science, she'd retained enough knowledge to appreciate the importance of what she'd just witnessed.

"I cannae believe it." Mary turned to look at her. "What did ye think, dear?"

Still smiling, Ashleigh raised her arms in a shrug.

"Lil must be ecstatic right now." Mary mused. "This is exactly why she built this place, after all."

Ashleigh nodded. "You have to hand it to her- it's great when her optimism actually pays off."

"Let's hope Iris works out the same, then."

"Oh?" Morris piped up- she'd been standing so quietly that Ashleigh had almost forgotten she was there in all the excitement. "You're with that Iris lot?"

"Aye!" Mary said brightly. "That's us."

Morris hummed thoughtfully. "Yes, of course. Branthium. My wife has been very interested in your project- we both have, but her especially."

"Is she a scientist, too?"

She nodded. "She's a physicist. The best I've met- though I suppose I may be biased."

"Ye ken-" Mary raised her eyebrow, "-if she's free, we could use all the help we can get at the moment. Has she considered joinin'?"

"Oh, I'm sure she'd love to- I think she just keeps forgetting to contact Peck about it."

"I know what that's like." Ashleigh said quietly, which caused Mary to nudge her with her elbow.

Morris glanced at her watch. "It was nice to meet you two- and Arbec, wherever she's wandered off to- but I have some people to talk to before I have to leave. Have a nice day."

She gave a brief smile, then turned on her heel and hurried off.

"Would ye like me to ask for her autograph before she goes?" Mary asked in a low voice.

"What?! No!" Ashleigh shook her head. "Nobody does that."

Mary laughed. "I ken! It was just funny, seein' ya so starstruck."

"Starstruck?" She echoed. "That's... pretty apt, actually."