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[shipmaster]

"I'm out! Leave a message."

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[shipmaster]

I'm a little shy about chasing 'fair' right now.

[Which is only partially a lie, really. That mission.. which may not even happen if Miles changes history... weighs heavily.]

How about want? I know I do.

[dendarii]

[ He won't pretend he's anything but deliriously, ridiculously happy with Gregor and Kitty. Curls up a bit closer to his boyfriend even now ... ]

I think ... I wish I had had you here, those few months ago. When I was trying to figure things out.

[shipmaster]

I wish I was too.

[shipmaster]

Years and years of stodgy cultural repression. It must have been impressive.

[dendarii]

[ Hm. Miles makes an amused noise. ]

Utterly, ridiculously panicked. I didn't know what to do with myself.

[shipmaster]

And the only Betan around to ask was your mother. I'm now also sad I missed it for the entertainment value.

[dendarii]

You wouldn't have been able to ravish me for laughing, I'm sure. I was utterly pathetic.

If you look carefully, the network surely still has some evidence on it.

[shipmaster]

Well, there's something to pass a weekend.

I wonder how much Quinn would pay if she turned up.

[dendarii]

... Pay? Pay for what?

[shipmaster]

You do realize there's a gossip pool on you. Has been since day one.

[dendarii]

oh my god

about what, my sexuality? choice of partners?

[shipmaster]

It's really terrible, those months between jobs.

[dendarii]

You started it, didn't you.

[shipmaster]

good intelligence casts a wide net

[dendarii]

GOD bel. why. what is the fascination with someone like me.

[shipmaster]

you can't ask questions like that after I've already turned out the light

[dendarii]

you're the one who texted me asking for a date at 2 AM

[shipmaster]

the light was on, then

[dendarii]

so turn it back on, admiral thorne

[shipmaster]

see what I do for you

[dendarii]

it's entirely owed. Waking me up, starting that ludicrous pool. Why me?

[shipmaster]

[Bel, now with the light woefully sending sleep stealing light through the room, toys with their comm, thinking about how to answer this. They did wake him up at 2 am. But then, so has Miles woken Bel up. Routinely.

They could write an essay here. Hell, it sounds like a great time to try out that mental interface crap that the comm is supposed to have, just to really top off a night of poorly thought out plans.

They lift a finger, sliding it over the glass to send a love note so peculiar, it could only come from one of Miles' Dendarii.]

Because an Admiral is his Fleet. And you're the first time anyone's ever loved it.

There's something to that.

[dendarii]

[ Oh. That one, simple note does more than a long missive would have, anyway. He can't help but cradle the comm close to him as heat suffuses his cheeks. ]

It won't be the last, now.

[shipmaster]

[Bel lay back, with that quiet reminder that things are over. Will have been over for years, possibly, when they go back.

Elena was a damn good Admiral. Studied under Tung, with a strong eye for strategy and more sense than should be wasted on a mercenary crew... Quinn would be good as well. Far more in the little Admiral's pace, she would take the wilder missions, and be more sensible in other ways.

But it would be different, the electric spark of possibility, of Nexus changing events would simmer out and steady into what it had been. What it needed to be: taking the usual jobs for the usual pay, to keep everything floating.

Three years, Miles had vanished for the first time, not a single word back. No missions, no orders, not even a status or position check. They'd wondered what they were doing, what had drawn them so deeply that this arm was left to hang.

Things would go well. They'd probably actually live to retire, with a cushy pillow of funds.]

Oh, it'll be fine.

[dendarii]

I damn well hope so. It would be a waste otherwise.

[ He can't sense what's going on in Bel's head, but ... well, it's not hard to guess at the shape of it. ]