somewhere above Milliways: morning after

[aimedforthemoon]

She'd had a shower, after. Washing off the sweat of space and panic far more than the mess of sex. Combed out the snarls from her long, almost curly dark hair. Felt human.

Felt alive.

~

When she fell asleep, exhausted, she'd curled in close to him. It's not that she'd subconsciously follow if he moved, it was just...

She needed to touch someone.

That was all.

~

She dreamed, naturally.

~

Nightmares, from the faint whimpers and and half-audible pleading.

~

When she wakes, sometime around dawn, circles under her eyes but mind awake, well.

As far as her memory is concerned, she didn't dream a damn thing.

Comments

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

He hadn't moved far. He'd been aware of the nightmares, when they woke him, but he'd never tell her that.

"Morning", he says sleepily.

[aimedforthemoon]

"Dobraye utra," Esfir replies, rubbing eyes and shifting to study the ceiling.

Then she blinks.

"Oh. Da. English. Um. Good morning, Owen."

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

"I speak some Russian", he says with a shrug. "Rusty, though. Sleep well?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"As well as I could, I think."

There is a bone-deep weariness in her self that she hadn't noticed last night.

"I didn't, um." She rubs her head. "You?"

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

"Well enough." He usually does, after proper... exertion. He's watching her with something like concern, though.

[aimedforthemoon]

She doesn't appear to notice. Expression cool, blank, distant and for all her eyes are directed up, she's not seeing the ceiling.




i'm dead





"Thank you for staying."

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

"I said I would." Beat. "You needed it."

Which is different than wanting it.

[aimedforthemoon]

Slowly, she nods.





"I. I do not feel dead."

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

"Look at me, Esfir." His eyes are still intent on her. "They say in this place, the dead're just like anyone else."

He slams the door shut on any thoughts of Katie.

[aimedforthemoon]

A pause and then she rolls over to face him, eyes huge in her small face.

"Yes?"

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

"Yes", he says firmly. "I mean, look at you. Breath, heartbeat..." His hand ghosts over her nose and mouth, coming to rest over her heart. "Warmth. You feel alive to me."

[aimedforthemoon]

"Do I change that? If I leave?"

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

"Depends where you want to go", he says carefully.

[aimedforthemoon]

"Somewhere...where there are planes."

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

"Well, there's planes in most modern Earths. Land-planes or space planes?"

[aimedforthemoon]

A delighted smile.

"Land. Jet fighters. That's what I was, before space."

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

He hasn't met Diane yet, in his timeline, or this would be setting off all kinds of resonances.

The delighted smile gets a grin. "Bet you could find someone with access to jet fighters."

[aimedforthemoon]

This time, her grin isn't nearly so glamorous or as sharp as her previous ones. It's still the little girl from Stalingrad, giddy in a plane.

"That would be...they are beautiful, Owen. Planes."

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

It's kind of impossible not to like someone who smiles like that.

"I've only been in passenger planes. The big ones."

[aimedforthemoon]

"I used to fly a MiG-21. Just me in the cockpit, and the rest of my wing. Goes nearly as fast as sound."

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

"Sounds amazing. How long'd they make you train before they let you go up?"

[aimedforthemoon]

"On my own? Um." She thinks for a moment, and then says.

Six weeks, nothing but classes. Then it was classes mixed with simulations or flying with an instructor, and it was only the latter that counted towards the fifty hours.

It's not, perhaps, as long as you might think for letting someone go up in a fighter jet.

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

It's intensive, though, and he accepts the figure without surprise.

"So then it was up, up and away?"

[aimedforthemoon]

She nods.

"It doesn't stop after you graduate, either. Not with the Korean war."

[sorryimatwat.livejournal.com]

"Long before my time, but yeah, I guess they'd put you all to use. Or what's the point?"