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Eva Stratt was a woman on a mission. That statement always held true, but right now, it was... different than the average person may imagine.
She walked briskly through the halls of the ship, then she sped up a little, then a little more, until she was sprinting down the halls with her heavy footfalls echoing on the metal floors.
She reached his door. Normally, she would take the time to compose herself before knocking, but this was no "normally".
She balled her left hand into a fist and banged on the door three times while leaning against the doorframe, catching her breath.
Ryland Grace was shocked to hear knocking on his door this late. It was already 11. Granted, he had just got in a half hour ago, but still.
"I'm coming!" He yelled, climbing off his bed and abandoning the book he was reading there too.
What he opened the door to was a sight to behold. Out of all the people and things he had expected to see, his boss, out of breath and a mess hunched over his door had not made the list.
Oh God was she glad to see him.
"Stratt wha-"
She cut him off by grabbing him by the shirt collar and pulling his face closer to her.
"I want you, I NEED you. Please." She felt the words spill out of her mouth.
"What is going on? Is this some sort of prank that Ilyukhina or Dimitri got you in on?"
Eva was on the verge of tears now.
"No Ryland, this is all me. From the heart. Oh God, you can't even begin to imagine how lonely it is. Practically everybody aboard this ship hates my guts and I haven't felt anybody's touch in 2 years. 2 YEARS Ryland. I just want someone to fuck me, or to hold me, I don't really even care anymore. And here you've been, God you're so perfect, sitting there in front of me all this time."
During her speech -blubbering confession was a more suitable term- her hands had released his shirt collar and taken his hands instead. They were an amount of warm she hadn't felt in years.
If Grace thought the Stratt he'd opened the door to was crazy, the one in front of him now had already set the ship aflame.
He watched in awe, and ultimately confusion as she slowly sank to her knees in front of him.
"Oh God Ryland," she continued in a horribly pathetic tone that he hadn't thought possible from her, "I'll do anything. Just please take me, fuck me, hold me, whatever! Just one night..." she trailed off, and he could see the silent tears running down her face as she let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around his legs, crying into one of his pant legs.
"Hey, hey, it's ok," he coaxed, hoisting her up to her feet, "I'll hold you. Just for tonight." She collapsed into his arms and he rubbed slow circles on her back and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Oh God I love you," she said into his chest, in between sobs.
Eva Stratt shot up in bed -alone- to the gentle rocking and creaking of the ship.
It was 2:46 A.M.
What the fuck was that?! She asked herself as she got up and went and splashed some cold water on her face.
Eva walked over to her window overlooking the sea that made up almost a whole wall of her quarters and opened it.
Was she really that pathetic? And that desperate? Was this a sign? Was she going insane? Or was the weight of the world on her shoulders finally getting to her?
She was hit with a blast of cold air.
As she climbed back into bed, she scribbled something onto the notepad by her bedside that contained her to-do list for the day. It read "kick Grace off ship and/or get yourself mentally evaluated".
By the time her normal life had resumed the next morning, she'd pushed the thought deep into her brain already. Until Grace walked into their first meeting of the day and smiled when he saw her. She choked on her coffee a bit.
Eva looked back down at her list and circled the latter option.