Book of short stories

Lost Time (Kelly X OC)

   Kelly walked into the small barracks room and flicked the light on. She took a moment to look around, and simply assumed Ryan wasn't off duty yet. Until of course she felt a chest against her back and her vision was blocked out.
"Guess who."
Kelly moved his hands away.
"Last time something like that happened I killed an elite."
She turned to face Ryan, who was just looking up at her with a wide smile.
"Good thing I have this charming face then, otherwise you'd mistake me for one of 'em."

   Kelly chuckled and looked at his arms. He had what seemed like everything. Flowers, chocolate, pain killers. It hit her. It was Valentine's Day, and just like the year before she'd completely forgotten. It hadn't mattered the previous year anyway, since both her and Ryan had been on full deployments then.

   She sighed guiltily and Ryan chuckled. "Forgot again?" Kelly simply nodded and said nothing, pulling out one of the boxes of pills. "What's this for?" Ryan shrugged. "You get hurt too much. And if I'm not gonna be there each time I'll just give you the painkillers in advance."

   She smiled softly, Kelly liked his humour when it came to gifts. She just thought for a moment about it her own short-fallings, until she was brought of her thoughts by Ryan. "I didn't know what to get you, so I kinda got...Everything." He put it all on the bed, and she inspected it all.

   "Where'd you even find this stuff?" Ryan shrugged and looked away from her for a few seconds. Kelly raised her eyebrow and poked his arm. "Tell me, trooper." Ryan smiled and met her gaze. "That always gets me. Anyway, I ordered a bunch of it a month back. The chocolate wasn't hard, since the PX has been carrying them for weeks now."

   Kelly simply nodded. Once again she regretted forgetting, especially since it had been well advertised. Ryan didn't seem to mind though, so she tried not to act like it was that big an issue. "Thank you, Ryan. It means a lot."

   Ryan stood on the tip of his toes and kissed her cheek with a smile. "You've got enough holidays you missed, didn't want to miss another." Kelly simply smiled at him. She couldn't really respond to that, to be honest. At least, until she got herself under control. It was like she'd fallen in love with him again, but she adored the feeling.

   "Come on. I got chocolate, which I know you'll think is unhealthy, but as long as you do your average run, it won't hurt." Kelly simply raised an eyebrow. An average run for her would burn more calories than she would take in. Ryan took her hand, and pulled her into the bed with him, and shoved his head into her chest. She laughed and ran her hand through his hair.

   Ryan wrapped his arms around her and took a deep breath, then looked up at her. "Eat the chocolate. It cost money." Kelly kissed his forehead and got to work on it, while Ryan promptly cuddled against her. Kelly watched him with a loving smile, she absolutely adored him.

   "Hey, Ryan?" Ryan groaned quietly and looked up at her. "What? Your chest is warm." She smiled at him. "I love you." Ryan's slightly annoyed face immediately turned into a wide smile, and he cupped her cheek. Ryan then leaned up, and deeply kissed her, for at least a minute. Once he let go, he cuddled back into her. "I love you too."

   Kelly smiled and held him into her, resting her head on top of his. She could only describe it as pure bliss, something she'd never felt in her life. She was a Spartan-II, sure, but she'd always wondered what if it felt like to be really loved, rather than just respected as an efficient killing machine. She had her answer now, and it was far better than what she'd ever imagined.

   "Hey, Ryan?" Ryan looked up at her. Same tone, same question, while Ryan grinned up at Kelly, he found it all quite amusing. "What's u-" Ryan was cut off by Kelly kissing him again, just as deeply and passionately as the one previously. Their relationship had been more hanging out up until then, though she'd occasionally cuddled with him, and things like that. While it hadn't been her first kiss, Ryan had done that for her the day she decided to attempt a relationship. However, the admission of love had made this one much better than all previously, and she wanted it again.

   Ryan complied, leaning up again to make it easy on her. Kelly rested her arms over his shoulder, all the while their bodies pressed together. She wondered just how much she'd missed last years Valentine's Day. Kelly had to put some effort into holding the kiss, but then again she could hold her breath a lot longer than Ryan, so he broke it off first.

   Kelly smiled again and let him cuddle against her, for once she was glad she'd taken the day off. To be fair, Kelly had a lot of leave stored up. Kelly didn't generally mind the height difference between the two, but sometimes she wondered what it'd be like to be the little spoon.

Ryan looked up again, with that damned smile Kelly loved so much. "Anything else you want to do?" Kelly shrugged, then smirked a bit. Ryan raised an eyebrow, he'd only seen her get that look once. "Kelly, no." Kelly chuckled and pulled him up, her face mere inches from him. She could see the excitement in his eyes and that was all she needed. "Kelly, yes."