AWF Chpt 13

=Chapter 13=
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==A Warrior's Family==
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===Meeting XO, New Billet Assignment===
Edwards System
Federated Suns
August 3029
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Hap had never been on an Excalibur class DropShip. As he followed Mags he was surprised how big it was. Hap had been on Leopards and Union DropShips, but those were small cramped vessels. They had already passed several decks designed for infantry squads and vehicle crews. Mags mentioned most of the families and couples had the larger suites. She eventually led them to their berthing area. Like the Leopard it was a series of sleeping chambers built into the walls. Mags took them to the last four chambers near a T juncture. She drunkenly motioned around her while mumbling this was their section.
Mags started to undress and Hap instinctively looked away. He glanced at Anastasia. She was looking at Mags in disbelief. "Pardon me, Mags, where's the ladies head?"
She motioned to the hallway and the left. Anastasia took her go-bag and turned left at the juncture. Hap choose a bed chamber and found clean sheets and blankets in his wall locker. He busied himself making his bed and not looking at Mags as she completely undressed changed clothes and climbed into the bed above Hap.
Joker had been watching Mags as she changed. He also started undressing in the hall. Anastasia returned with one arm strategically covering her chest.
"Hello Anastasia." He said as he turned to face her.
"You're a pervert." She eyes flashed as she walked around him.
Joker turned to keep facing her, "I might be a pervert. You might be a little prettier than Tatyana. She has those legs that won't quit, and that huge rack, so she'd beat you in a beauty contest."
"Rack?" Anastasia asked as she opened her wall locker.
"Boobs. Her boobs are bigger than yours." Joker laughed as he pantomimed holding large melons.
Mags pushed open her bed chamber, "Hey dumb ass if Fletch hears you talking about Volsheyka's tits, he's going to throat punch you."
Joker laughed, "Good looking out, lancemate. And just so you know your boobs are pretty nice too."
"When I'm sober, and there's only one of you. I'm going to cut you." Mags groaned.
"Mags, are you going to be okay?" Hap asked as he stopped making his bed to look at her.
"I've been drinking for a long time. I just need you all to shut up so I can sleep." She growled
Joker walked away toward the male head whistling. Anastasia turned to Hap, "I'm starting to understand now what it means to be part of this unit, and I'm not sure if it's good or bad." She turned around and put her things into her wall locker. As she opened her bed chamber she let out a hurt gasp. Hap couldn't see her bed chamber but he could sense whatever it was had immediately gone too far.
Hap stood up and looked over her shoulder. On her bed was part of a 'Mech's hand welded to form a rude gesture. Leaning against the Mech was a strangely dirty looking stuffed rabbit holding a sign that read, "Screw you Jerry". There was also soiled laundry spread all over the sleeping chamber.
"Who's Jerry" Anastasia cried quietly as her shoulders drooped.
Mags started laughing uncontrollably, "Oh my god, I forgot all about the middle 'mech finger joke with Jerry and Crow, and I wondered what happened to Mr. Fudgeypants."
Hap looked at the mess on the bed. Mags confirmed this was between two other MechWarriors and had nothing to do with Anastasia, but she was still in the middle of it. He didn't want to touch the laundry or the stuffed rabbit. The 'Mech hand looked heavy, and he wasn't sure he could lift it. Joker came back around the corner.
He saw the look on Hap and Anastasia's face, and then looked at the bed. He immediately giggled. "Wow Anastasia, we've only been here a few hours and already someone's sick of your shit."
"But I'm not, Jerry." Anastasia answered.
A red headed 'MechWarrior with a red beard and clear blue eyes jogged up. "Oh. I'm sorry. Yeah, this is my mistake. When we heard we were getting new Mechwarriors I should have cleaned all this up."
"Why would you do this?" Anastasia asked.
"Well, see this started a while back with me and Jerry. I'm Eugene Harrison, I pilot the Catapult in Hammer Lance, which is the Fire Support lance. Call sign is Crow. So one time Jerry and I-"
"Eugene or Crow." Hap interrupted, "I'm Hap, nice to meet you. I'm sure we'll laugh about this in the morning, but right now we all just want to get to sleep. So why don't you help me clean this up-"
"Yeah we're going to need an Ammo cart to move the hand, its super heavy. The Mech techs probably won't let us have one until the morning." Crow replied.
"Where am I going to sleep?" Anastasia asked.
"You can sleep in my bed." Crow offered.
Hap didn't need to look to feel the cold stare that Anastasia was giving Crow.
"Oh, no. Sorry. I didn't mean it like that, I was gonna…see there's an observation deck on deck 2, it has a bunch of recliners, we call it the 'Dog House' for when a husband needs a couch to sleep on because he upset the misses. I guess wives could sleep there too…" Crow started to ramble.
"Crow, brother, stop. Anastasia can have my bed, and I'll sleep in the dog house, but first thing tomorrow you get this all cleaned up, and get Anastasia a new mattress." Hap said firmly.
"Yeah, yeah sure man." Crow said and then held out his hand. As Hap shook hands with him Crow looked at Anastasia and shrugged, "Sorry, about this whole thing. Good to meet you." He told her.
Anastasia sighed, "I accept your apology, just please clean it all up tomorrow."
Crow nodded and left, and in a moment Hap was the only one in the hallway as Joker climbed into his chamber, and Anastasia got into Hap's bed. Hap opened his locker and started putting his things away. He glanced at Anastasia sitting on his bed with cross legged. She was looking up at him.
"Can we talk for a moment?" Anastasia asked
Hap nodded as he sat down, "That little joke seemed to really effect you, at least for a moment."
"It reminded me of some of the jokes they played on me on the academy. I thought I was passed all that, I could already tell some of the mercenaries were crazy, but I didn't think them cruel. Then I saw that hand, for a few seconds I felt like I was back at NAIS. It took a moment to realize this wasn't about me."
Hap nodded, "I thought the same thing, but it was a pretty mean trick. Are you going to be okay?"
"If I say 'no' will you stay here, tonight?" Anastasia asked.
Hap looked at her, "I don't think that's a good idea, Anastasia." Even if it was something he wanted.
"Harold, I've been looking forward to some peace and quiet all day. I'm sure you have too. You don't want to sleep in 'the dog house.' Let's just agree to keep our hands to ourselves, and we'll be fine."
Hap hesitated, then said, "I have been trying to get you alone and talk for the last couple days."
Anastasia smiled, "See. It's perfect, we can talk tomorrow, and we'll be rested, sober, and all alone."
"The all alone part is what I'm afraid of." Hap sighed, "Promise to be good?"
Anastasia smiled and nodded eagerly, "I'm always good." Hap noted something mischievous in her tone.
Hap shook his head, "Let me change and get ready for bed." He quickly prepared himself and in a few minutes they were enclosed together in the bed chamber, under the same blankets, back-to-back and comfortable. Anastasia was pleased with herself. This was exactly what she wanted, Harold all to herself. Tonight they'd sleep close to each other, and tomorrow they'd figure out their relationship.
As Anastasia started to fall sleep Hap adjusted himself, rolled onto his back and pushed Anastasia closer to the wall. Anastasia got comfortable again and then Hap started snoring. This irritated her, mostly because his snoring hurt Anastasia's idea that Hap was the perfect man. She tried to sleep but he was too loud. Obviously there were ways to fix this, so it wasn't a deal breaker, but it was annoying.
Anastasia tried to elbow him, but he didn't stop the snoring. She rolled over and gave him a good shake, and pushed him back over toward his side of the bed. Hap responded by rolling toward her, wrapping his arms around and pulling her to him. For a moment Anastasia wasn't sure what was happening.
Hap slipped on arm under the pillow to support her neck and the other arm rested on her side. In the confusion she had one arm on his waist, but her other arm was pinned between them. Harold seemed to go back to sleep almost immediately. Anastasia wasn't sure if he had even woken up.
Other than her pinned arm she was very comfortable. Anastasia certainly liked being held close, and he had stopped snoring. Anastasia decided not to disturb Harold. She was happy, and felt content. She slept for a little while, but woke up as her arm went numb. She was trying to adjust herself and move her pinned arm, when Hap pulled her closer and said, "We should make pancakes for breakfast."
"How about crepes?" Anastasia answered without thinking as she continued to get comfortable.
Hap shook himself awake and asked in surprise, "Anastasia?"
"Harold, how many woman do you bring into your bed?"
Hap exhaled, "Sorry. We agreed to keep our hands to ourselves." He helped her turn around and for a moment Anastasia was disappointed to think that Hap was going to turn away from her again, but then he pulled her back into his chest. He laid his arm on top of hers and intertwined their fingers and wrapped their arms around her waist. She had to stop herself from cooing in delight. She felt secure, comfortable, and very special, but her heart was beating like she was sprinting for a fitness test.
Hap's head was right behind hers, "It's been a long time since I shared my bed, Anastasia. I guess I was half asleep and holding you made me think I was holding my ex-wife. When I was married there was a time when Kasara and I would make up from a fight, make love, hold each other through the night, then the next morning make breakfast, and spend the day together. Maybe we'd have a picnic, or go out to the theater or dancing. Then we'd be fine, like we were just married again. But, a few days later we'd be fighting again, and the fights got nastier and it took us longer to make up."
"Oh." Anastasia replied, "I'm sorry I asked."
"Don't be," Hap said, "but it's why I want us to take thing slow. Which is sort of ironic right now."
"Yes, it is ironic. What happened to keeping our hands to ourselves?" Anastasia teased, she was so comfortable and happy, even hearing Hap talk about his ex-wife was just a minor annoyance.
She could feel Hap shrug as he said, "It wasn't working. It's a small space, so I either need to go-"
Anastasia pulled on Hap's arm so that he was hugging her tighter, "You're not going anywhere, Harold."
"-Or we're going to have improvise something else." Hap said. "But we should sleep now."
Anastasia was too excited to sleep, "What did you and your ex-wife fight about?"
"Same thing most couples fight about, money, time, sex, kids. Somedays it was just whatever we found."
"Really? You seem so easy going."
Hap groaned, "When you really know someone, you'd be surprised how easily you can provoke them."
"Joker seems to excel at that." Anastasia said
"Joker tends to figure out ways to annoy people, but what he does is mostly at a surface level." Hap squeezed Anastasia, "Over the last couple days you've been trying to snuggle up to me or hold my hand. I suspect you're the sort of girl that likes to be held. It's a way you know you're adored and cherished."
Anastasia had never thought of that before, but he was right. She was certainly feeling cherished at the moment. "Aren't most women?"
"Kasara wasn't. She preferred quality time, and experiences. She was also an extrovert and wanted to be out with her friends. That's not to say she didn't like being held, but she was happiest when we were doing things together, especially the things she wanted to do, outside the house."
"Okay. Can we not talk about your ex though?"
"I'm trying not too." Hap paused, "My point was, you like being held, now imagine you married a man that refused to hold your hand, or sit next to you, or let you sleep in his arms. How would you react?"
"I would…" Anastasia was puzzled. She pushed herself more into Hap, and pulled his arm around her tighter. "I wouldn't accept that, or I'd resent that. It would be like you were saying you didn't love me." Anastasia paused for a moment, then asked, "You didn't do that to your ex-wife did you?"
"Not on purpose." Hap said reluctantly, "I've had a lot of time to think about some of my mistakes. If I had been smart, or paying attention, I could have avoided some of our problems, or just not have married her. But, back to us. I've only known you a few days, I like what I've seen so far, but I hardly know you. I don't know your middle name, birthday, your favorite color, or favorite food. Which is why-"
Anastasia interrupted, "It seems a little trivial, but Maria, March eighth, burgundy, and croquet madam with onion soup, and what about you, Harold?"
Harold meant to tell her they should get to really know each other before things got physical, instead he answered, "Fredrick, September ninth, blue, I guess, and probably a good thick steak with a baked potato with sour cream and chives, and grilled broccoli."
"Mmm, There is nothing like a good rare steak. What about desert?" Anastasia liked this game.
"I'm not much a desert guy, but my mom used to make this apple pie from scratch. One of the few times she'd go all, and it would take her all day to make. That has my favorite desert. What about you?"
"A good apple pie is delicious. Abuela would take tart apples and mix them with a cheese cake the she wrapped it in a tortilla and fry it, and coat it with cinnamon and sugar. For me, though, I love a good chocolate fondant, especially when it doesn't melt on your plate but just dissolves in your mouth."
"I was thinking you were going to say something gourmet with some expensive and rare ingredient."
"Like crème brulee on top of a kincha compote?"
"Yes. Exactly. Isn't kincha addictive and illegal?"
"Have you never had it? It's so good you won't care how addictive or illegal it is." Anastasia said excitedly.
"Considering it only grows on one planet that is hotly contested between the Free World's League and the Capellan Confederation I've never seen or had it. Even imitation kincha is too expensive for me."
Hap could feel Anastasia settling in and for a moment He thought she was going to sleep, but she said, "You're worried we won't be happy because I'm high class, expensive, and I sound pretentious."
"Not pretentious, you told me you like hamburgers over steak tar-tar, and you made tuna noodle casserole into something I could crave, which I guess was a little fancy, but-I'm just, I'm just getting to know you, and I still like everything about you. We really should continue this in the morning."
"Agreed, but I want you to know, that I may like some of the finer things, but I don't need those things, there are other things I need." She said as she squeezed his arm. "Good night, Harold."
"Good night" Hap mumbled as he held her close and enjoyed the smell of hair, and her warmth and softness, he even liked the soft murmurs she made as he squeezed her. He also knew if he didn't put a stop to this soon, that they wouldn't have much choice in how things would go, and he could only hope it wouldn't end in disaster.
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