Ivory Hill had spent the majority of her adult life running. Throughout her twenties and the first part of her thirties it was from bombs and bullets. Now, at thirty six years old Ivory was running from something that she could never truly escape fr...
Ivory was sat on the steps of Site Twenty Six with one of Grace's jackets pulled around her pyjamas to shield herself from the cold night. A sharp breeze ruffled her black hair, making it even messier than usual.
"What are you doing out here?"
"Grace? How did you know I was out here?"
"I heard the airlock." Grace sat down in the steps beside Ivory. "So, why are you out here?"
"It's a nice night." In truth, Ivory had come outside to think. Although she wouldn't ever admit it Grace getting hurt had forced her to face a harsh reality, she wouldn't always be able to protect her. Ivory loved Grace but that wasn't enough to stop something from happening to her. There was war on the horizon, Ivory had heard Quaritch and his men discussing how best to attack Hometree when she had gone back to Hell's Gate with Trudy to get more supplies. If a war did happen she wasn't sure that she or Grace would make it out alive.
"Mmm." Grace looked up at Polyphemus, taking in the pale blue and purple stripes of the ginormous planet in silence.
Ivory followed Grace's eyes, turning her attention to the bright planet hanging in the sky. They sat in a comfortable silence for about ten minutes, gazing up at the star strewn sky.
"How's your hand?" Ivory asked eventually.
Grace reluctantly lifted her palm.
"At least the bleeding's stopped." Ivory's hand gravitated to her dog tags.
"Yeah." The older woman shifted slightly until her thigh was pressing against Ivory's.
The dark haired girl let out a shaky breath, resting her head on Grace's shoulder. The other woman made no effort to push her away. "Grace? I l-"
"Ivy please don't." Grace said tiredly. The longer you hold off from saying things like that to me the easier it's going to be to keep things objective, she thought.
"Sorry." Ivory muttered, looking so utterly defeated that Grace felt a dull sick heat in her face. Something in Ivory's chest flickered and went out.
"What do you miss most about Earth?" Grace asked quickly, eager to change the subject.
"Other than my family I miss my motorbike. And real pop tarts, not the shitty rehydrated ones we get here. What do you miss most about Earth?"
"You have a motorbike?" The redhead asked in surprise.
"Yes."
"You didn't strike me as the type to own one. I don't miss anything about Earth. It was a shithole, humans fucked it into liquidation." Grace said matter of factly, painfully honest as always.
"Don't you have anyone waiting for you back on Earth?"
"No."
"But aren't you... lonely?" Ivory cringed when she realised how ridiculous the question sounded.
"No, I like it better this way. I don't have to worry about anyone getting sick of my attitude. I'd rather be by myself than have someone and then lose them when they decide that they can't deal with my shit anymore." And I don't have to worry about anyone getting hurt, or worse, because of me.
"I happen to like your attitude."
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"Are you okay?" Grace asked softly, turning over in bed and flattening her pillow so that she could see Ivory properly.
Ivory didn't move to face Grace. "I'm fine." She had been laying awake since they had gone to bed. The woman wasn't sure how much longer she could keep sleeping with Grace. She enjoyed it, there was no doubt about, that but being so close to Grace somehow reminded her that things would only ever be platonic. It was just her luck to somehow manage to find the first woman that she had proper feelings for on a completely different planet only to have her be completely emotionally unavailable.
"You don't look fine."
"I'm just tired. And you happen to be keeping me awake." Ivory wrapped the duvet more tightly around herself, shivering slightly.
Grace sat up, stretching across to her desk chair. She pulled her hoodie off of the back of the chair, passing it to Ivory. "Here."
"Thanks." The girl sat up and pulled it over her head, collapsing back down onto her pillow. She pulled the hoodie around herself, shutting her eyes and wishing that it was Grace pulling her close instead.
