( nsfw open )

[skittys]

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[unas]

( there are some things the same here and some things vastly different. una remembers those weeks at the ranch, her version of them, assuming that those weeks are like hers.

but that's not where she's caught and she understands why he phrases it as he does )

I died.

( it's hard to hear but now she understands why everyone had acted as they did, had told her nothing. on impulse, she crosses the room, wrapping arms around his neck to hug him. she doesn't often hug, initiates them less but he's talking to the supposedly dead woman that he loves, she figures that needs a hug )

I want to see the ranch. ( she's not intending it as a 'filling her place' but of getting out of here, of getting chance to digest it, maybe sleep more in a bed she hopes is familiar, then come to figuring out the problem in the morning )

[whistles_loudly]

So did the rest of your crew.

[He still holds on to whatever bad feelings he had toward Starfleet for the way it was all handled. Her ship wasn't supposed to be that far out, they weren't supposed to run into a Klingon Ship. They weren't supposed to be destroyed like they were.]

It's in Mojave. It'll take a few hours to get out there. Unless, I get a transporter slot. I need to cancel my classes for the rest of the week. I have a place on the other side of campus if you want to stay there for the night...

[He needs to figure this out, and he needs to make sure Una's safe, and he needs to stop rambling.]

[unas]

( not montana is what she stops herself from saying. they can do details when it's not the middle of the night, sit and talk properly )

Your campus one.

( after being rudely woken by universe travel and held here for hours she feels pretty exhausted. is this like jet lag? )

Thank you, Chris.

( for coming, for talking to her, for offering her a bed )

[whistles_loudly]

[He nods. His campus apartment made the most sense.]

I'll go talk to the doctors and get you out of here. Are you going to be okay for a few minutes?

[He knows she'll be okay, she's Una. She can handle anything. But all of this can be a lot.]

[unas]

( she nods. if she's lucky they can postpone the last of the scans until tomorrow when she's not exhausted, when she's more cooperative and willing to be seen to.

she steps back, letting him go and sort this out for her )

[whistles_loudly]

Okay. I'll be right back.

[He goes in the hall to speak to the doctors. They're not the ones at fault here, but they get the brunt of his anger anyway, after about fifteen minutes they agree that he can take her back to his campus apartment, if they come back tomorrow to finish those scans. He'll deal with anyone who comes out of the woodwork from Starfleet Intelligence, since he assumes they're next on the list.]

We can go, as long as we come back. I'm sure there'll be a lot of questions tomorrow.

[unas]

I'll answer them then.

( she presses her hands to her face for a moment before pushing her hair back. this situation was a mess and she didn't even have answers for it.

she steps towards him, reaching initially to take his hand but then stopping before she grabs it. they weren't dating and this had to be hard enough for him. god, she shouldn't be going vack to his, should she? not that it's stopping her from following him out )

[whistles_loudly]

[As far as he's concerned, she's some version of Una and Una was his best friend before she was anything else. And he was going to help her no matter what, even if that just meant that he could give her somewhere to stay that isn't a hospital room for the night. Though he is fighting the urge to hug her, like he would have if she came back from that mission two years ago.]

At least you can try to get some sleep. Hospitals are never good for that.

[The walk to his apartment was short, just across the lawn and down the block. The layout is standard Starfleet but he has a few personal items scattered here and there including a few photos together with Una.]

I have a second bedroom, just need to makeup the bed. Do you need anything?

[unas]

( she starts to shake her head and then laughs at herself )

Everything.

( depending on how long she was here, anyway. she could use this universe's things if any still existed but... they weren't hers, even if they were the same. it felt more like using a dead person's things, like a sibling if anything )

I'll need to replicate some clothes in the morning. ( at least her pyjamas are decent enough to walk around in, long legged bottoms and a tee. she wasn't going to replicate a uniform though, not for this world ) Then it's day by day... whatever ends up happening.

[whistles_loudly]

[It was a pretty stupid question, or at least the phrasing was pretty stupid, so he's amused too.]

That won't be a problem. If you need anything from the kitchen it's pretty well stocked.

[Including strawberries, he can't not have those anymore. When she says the last part, he can't help but be reassuring.]

It's going to be okay, Una. We'll figure it out.

[He doesn't say that she could stay with him until they do, but he'd never leave her on her own.]

[unas]

Thank you.

( truly, deeply. if una wasn't already wildly in love with this many (any version of him, all versions of him) his care for her now would make her fall for him, a care and consideration she's known from few others. or let herself need from others )

How far is it?

( she was desperate to try and get back to sleep again and end this long night )

[whistles_loudly]

It's right this way.

[He takes her down a short hallway to his spare room, his is right next door and it was obvious he left in a hurry, lights still on, bed's a mess.]

The bathroom's at the other end of the hallway. Towels are in the closet right next to it.

[He disappears for a few seconds, and returns with a set of sheets then goes about making up her bed.]

[unas]

You don't have to do that.

( she puts a hand on his shoulder to pause him, a grateful look on her )

Go back to bed. I'll be okay.

( it's more than she keeps thinking about how awkward it must be, or painful for him rather than putting him out. they're best friends in every universe and apparently still slept together. that's the part she's thinking of from what he said )

I'll see you in the morning.

[whistles_loudly]

[At least he knows better than to argue. So he finishes tucking the bottom sheet that he was working on into the corners of the bed, then leaves the rest neatly folded for her to finish up.]

There's blankets under the bed if you need them.

[He turns to go and can't help himself, even if it is a little weird.]

I'm glad you asked for me...I'm glad you're here.

[Then he shuts the door behind him and heads back to his room to get back in bed. He's not sure how he's going to cope with this at all considering she isn't his Una, but she is. There's so much about the two of them that's the same, and so much that isn't.

But he has feeling that whichever Chris is without her now is feeling completely lost. Though at least her Chris has something he didn't, hope that she'd come home one day.]

[unas]

( she smiles at his last comment, waiting until he's left before making a start on the rest of the bed and is glad that she'd already been in pyjamas to not have to ask for something of his to wear -- she's not sure she'd be able to handle that even if she's used to stealing his t-shirts in an emergency.

though una's exhausted, comfortable in bed, she finds it hard to get to sleep, laid there for maybe an hour without having been able to drift off. her mind's too wired on this universe, on him, on what her life was like... what happened to her. it has her pulling herself out of bed, tapping at the computer that's in this room. if her mind won't stop thinking about it she'll settle it, looking up the information herself. except whilst her security access seems to be the same it's all locked out, unsurprising when she's meant to be dead. so then she tries chris's, doubting that his password in this universe is any better than her chris. she's right.

it's easy to pull up her own file, the service record in front of her reading much like her own even if the smaller details are different, and it isn't difficult to find logs and reports surrounding the time of the accident, finding out what the mission was, learning of what happened to her, her ship and her crew.

it's awful, the computer quickly shut down and she's paused there, minutes passing, twenty, thirty before she moves from the chair. her steps are quiet, lightly padding down the corridor and pushing open the door to his room. he's so still and quiet that una expects that he's asleep, tiptoeing still in to slip under the covers. she knows what she's doing is selfish, that she reminds him of the woman he misses, but maybe they both could use a little comfort. she always sleeps better with chris and... maybe waking up next to her won't be too awful for him )

[whistles_loudly]

[Pike, for his part, is wide awake. He can't help but wonder about what their life is like back where she's from. They were still serving on the same ship and in the same chain of command, so he doubts they're together at least in the same way he and Una were.

The selfish part of him doesn't want her to go back to her place in the universe. He wants her to stay with him so he could get those years and that life that they should have had.

He knows it's going to come up, how she died. He's going to have to talk about it, and that talk is going to be one of the most difficult he'd ever have in his life. He tries to distract himself by counting the tiles on the celling. It's not working.

The door creaks when Una walks in, so he knows she's there, then when the weight shifts on the bed he doesn't move right away, he doesn't want to scare her. Though the fact that she's in his bed answers at least one of his questions, they were probably together.

It takes him a few minutes before he puts his arm around her. It's another selfish move on his part, but he can't help it. When he speaks it's quiet.]

We're together?

[unas]

( she freezes slightly when she feels the bed move, she's used to how chris moves in a bed and this isn't him moving whilst asleep, waiting for what comes next and entirely surprised when his arm wraps around her. she's still for a minute more before that tension releases in her, her hand resting on his and she snuggles closer, relieved that he's not kicking her out of bed or upset with her )

You convinced me.

( it's a whisper, words only for him even though it's the dead of night and the privacy of his bed )

We had those weeks at your ranch too, two incredible weeks... you convinced me we could still have it, that no one would find out.

( and no one had. there were likely people who knew them well who suspected something but nothing about their relationship affected their work )

I'm glad you did... and sorry you didn't get more time.

[whistles_loudly]

[He doesn't think he could be upset with her and if he could it would certainly not be about this.]

The ranch houses do it every time? [It's a joke, but then he's back to all seriousness.]

I'm glad you didn't wait as long as we did.

[unas]

We nearly did. I was afraid of someone finding out, regulations, what would happen to you if someone did find out.

( she wasn't thinking about herself but just him. she loved him too much to let him get hurt and he'd already be on the line for knowing she was illyrian )

You had good arguments and... after those two weeks it hurt not being with you. ( for the words that she's still not told him, that she loves him.

she rolls over to face him, her acute vision letting her see him better in the dark than you'd think, a hand coming up to trace fingers over his cheek. she almost says i don't think i could be without you but that's exactly what he's had to live with for the past two years. instead, she leans in, pressing the softest of kisses to his lips, light, brief, but filled with knowing of his situation, understanding of the pain he feels from how she imagines she'd feel. hoping it's a comfort and tells what she also can't say )

[whistles_loudly]

It's why we waited. That and she said she wanted to tell me something when I wasn't her CO.

[She wanted to finish that mission first, now he wishes he told her not to go.]

I never found out what that was.

[The kiss was a surprise. He could feel the tears in the corner of his eyes. They waited to be together until she felt safe, actually let themselves have it for a few weeks and then it all just went to hell. He didn't realize how much he missed things like this until he couldn't have them anymore.

There was so much he never got to say, hopefully he's not as much of an idiot in the other universes.]

[unas]

( she's quiet for a moment, biting the inside of her mouth. it's likely when it feels like nothing will be said that she does speak )

She loved you.

( it's easier to say the words as if she were sharing someone else's secret rather than her own secret. because whilst it's her chris she loves-- this is also chris. she loves him as well because he is christopher pike, some details might be different but she sees so much of the man she knows in him. because he is him )

She loved you more than she would ever dare to admit.

( and una knows that because it's how her love feels )

[whistles_loudly]

I loved her, more than anything.

[And he's sure that's exactly how her Chris feels. If she said let's resign our commissions and run a bed and breakfast on Mars, he'd do it, without a second thought. He'd get to spend the rest of his days with her, and that's really all he could ask for after all these years of space crisis after space crisis.]

[unas]

( it's very possible that she might cry, full of emotion at hearing him speak, of what he felt for her... she forgets for a moment that it's not confessing love for her, and whilst she could (does) assume that chris feels the same about her...

it's an emotionally messy situation, raw emotion felt from both sides, reunions and pain and so much love. and una's not great at words, not good at talking about anything emotional but she is good with actions. so she kisses him again, telling him everything through that touch. it's still gentle, tender, but all of that raw emotion, her love for one captain, and a little need -- missing him, comforted by the touch of this man's arm around her.

she's only been out of her universe for hours but there's fear of never getting back there, of losing chris how he'd lost her. so this time, she doesn't just kiss him the once, she kisses him again, kisses him as someone who doesn't want to let go, fears losing any part of him )

[whistles_loudly]

[Chris is already well on his way to crying. Between being woken up in the middle of the night, seeing her, now this he knows it's messy, but he just doesn't care. He's fairly sure if he found himself in another universe with another Una, he'd be reacting the exact same way she is right now. He kisses her back, something he never thought he'd get to do again.

He's taking the opportunity.

It's not the Una he loves. Logically, he knows that. But his entire body's screaming at him that it is her, the same woman he thought was gone two years ago. The same person he never got to say goodbye to. And maybe, he could let himself believe that, just for a little while.]

[unas]

( his kiss encourages her, the reaction that both him and his body have in response because for her it's exactly the same -- there might be a few lines or some history that's different but to her heart (and body) it's him, the man that she fell in love with, shares a bed with, loves with every fiber of her.

her hands come up, resting on his face, fingers tracing over his hairline. his hair feels the same, how soft he always keeps it, how she always loves running her fingers through it, and the urge to bury her fingers in there now is strong, to pull him to her until neither can breathe, to soothe every ache and pain in both of their hearts.

and she does kiss him until it hurts, until she's breathless and needs to take a moment. she leans backwards, rolling to her back, her hands encouraging him to follow. and even waiting, even as he moves she's leaning up to meet him, wanting to kiss him again, needing to kiss him again. she can't lose him )