We Came, We Saw, We Conqured

Happy Birthday

They called the Reds and Blues into the room.

"There's definitely Freelancer equipment there," Epsilon told everyone.

"But the mercs have control of that base," I added, "they claimed it just as we were leaving. We need to get that equipment away from them."

"None of us can work it," Doyle pointed out, "but I do agree that it needs to be taken from them."

"I can show everyone how. Even rewire a lot of it to work without an A.I."

"You can do that?" Tucker asked in amazement.

I nodded, "I created a lot of it. It's not rocket science."

"It actually is," Wash pointed out.

"Right."

"Then it's settled," Kimball said, "We'll send a team out with Riley to get the equipment back. Lieutenant?"

"I'll take Tucker and Sarge with me. Along with some soldiers from both sides."

The Generals nodded then dismissed us.

"Hey," Ryan called after me, "Just because yer mad at us, doesn't mean we can't work together like adults."

I flipped him off and called back over my shoulder, "Get tae fuck, arsepiece." Fuck off, you anus.

"Riley," Ryan said. There was something that sounded like desperation in his voice. But it couldn't be, this was Ryan. He demanded and you gave. And if you didn't then you better pray to whatever you believed in that'd he just let you go.

I just kept walking back to my room. I got out of my armor and showered. I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror wrapped in a towel when Simmons walked in. I watched him strip out of his under suit and step into the shower. This all seemed very domestic. I glanced into the bedroom area. His armor was next to mine. My side of the bed had more pillows than his, but that's how I liked it. That was the only way I could sleep, but I found that I could sleep if I used Simmons as a pillow too. There was a book on his side table and parts of a computer on mine. I focused back on the man in the shower. Maybe Ryan was wrong, and it was more than just Simmons pleasing a superior officer. I looked back to the mirror as the water shut off. How could this relationship be more than that, though? I wasn't exactly pretty anymore. I had bruises still from my four months locked in a room. I also had three scars from where that beast in Blood Gulch tried to eat me.

You're thinking too much.

"Shut up," I said through clenched teeth.

"I didn't say anything," Simmons said.

"Not you. Epsilon."

He hummed in acknowledgement before moving into the bedroom. I followed him and put on some clothes. I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor.

"Do you love me?" I asked suddenly.

"Yes," he automatically replied.

"Oh, okay."

He continued, "Ever since we met, I've known that we're special. That the way we talk and laugh around each other is different than everybody else. That I will never meet anyone I can trust as much as I trust you. And I think most people search their whole lives to find what we've already found. I wish I could explain your eyes and how the sound of your voice gives me butterflies. How your smile makes my heart skip a beat and how every time I'm with you, I feel so complete." He knelt in front of me. "I have completely fallen for you. Everything you do, everything you say, everything you are. You're my first thought in the morning, you're my last thought before I fall asleep, and you're almost every thought in between. So, yes Riley, I love you. These past four months where I didn't have you next to me were the worst four months of my life. And now that I've got you back, I don't ever want you to go. I know we're at war and both of us have jobs to do, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy for me to watch you go. And when you do, just know that you are taking my heart with you and I won't breathe again until you're with me."