We're Not Made Of Money
And thanks to Terri, for letting me share in Nika's recovery.--Andy.
They're closing in on Whitefall. In the amount of time it's taken Joshua to step off the bridge to grab a refill and come back, the door to the bridge itself has been closed. It's not locked, but the fact that it's shut is not exactly the norm either. Nor is the absolute roil of uncontrolled emotion coming off the bridge buffeting his senses. There is fear beneath, but the overwhelming sense of the roil is .... relief. Anxiety, hurt, sadness, conflicted elation.... and always overlaying it is the sheer relief.
--
Joshua carefully opened the door to the bridge, switching both cups to one hand so that he could close it just as carefully behind him. His eyes immediately scanned the bridge and quickly found Nika, sitting in what he already started to consider "her" chair on the left side of the bridge. Her back was to him, her face staring out into the Black and to the increasingly large moon in front of them.
"Nika?" he called out hesitantly. "Only taking my drugs every 3 days leaves me open to intense emotion, you know." He paused as he walked closer to her chair.
"Which is shorthand for me asking...did it work?"
--
He probably didn't need to ask, given what he can feel. But the blonde turns toward him and her unbandaged eyes -- a smoky blue-gray instead of the light crystal blue she was born with -- flicker upward toward his face. Her cheeks are wet and the skin around her eyes puffy with both surgery and tears that continue to trickle unceasingly, the muscles that control the movement of those eyes making it seem jerky and not quite coordinated. But the smile? That smile is oh-so-brilliant. "I'd say you look like hell, Joshua, but I can't see quite that well," she admits shakily. Biting her lip, she looks back toward the viewport. "But I can see that. And it's ... amazing."
--
Joshua walked over to her chair and put her coffee cup down as he leaned over to hug her. "I never had doubts. I'm so happy for you, Nika." As he pulled away from the hug, he looked over the entirety of her face and then stared into those new eyes of hers. Different, but good, he thought.
"I like your eyes, Nika. You'll make them yours before you know it. Trust me on that." He had some experience with changing faces.
--
Reaching up to wrap her arms around him, Nika hugs tightly. She's still shaking with the adrenaline that the news gave her. She buries her face in his shoulder, trying to stop the tears... to stop the high-strung reaction. But she can't do it. And when he draws away to look into her face again, she looks up with a mixture of fear and happiness. "I... can't see those yet. Is it... is it stupid to wonder if my sister's going to know who I am, Joshua?" The panic spikes. It's a fear she's had since waking up with new eyes, but now it's more pronounced. "Do I ... still look like me?" she asks uncertainly.
--
"It's not stupid," Joshua said firmly. "You don't look that different though, Nika. Eyes are a different shade of blue, but you're still definitively you. And even if your entire face was changed, the people that love you would know it is you. Those kind of things just radiate through."
Maybe he was just less attached to faces than most, he thought. He certainly had shed his own often enough. But Nika was Nika, different eyes or not.
--
Sucking in a deep breath, she murmurs softly, "Okay." Nika pauses and reaches up to wipe her tear-streaked cheeks. "Okay," she says again as she lets the breath out very slowly. "I'm... it's good. It's gonna be good." In some ways reassuring herself as much as anything else.
--
"Damn right you are," Joshua said firmly. She had managed to kick ass while blind. Now that she could see again, he thought, the Verse had best look out.
"I assume Arden knows. How long does he say it'll be before you can see fully again?"
--
Nika pauses and says, "It's going to require some.... retraining." Her tone on that is a little bit worried, though she struggles to hide it. "In the next day or two, I should get back at least enough to function. But... we'll just have to see." She doesn't want to give up hope; Arden was firm in the idea that no matter what, it would happen.
--
Joshua grasped hold of her hands. "Have faith, Nika. Not going this far without making sure you cross the finish line." He sat down in the chair next to her. "Arden is too stubborn for anything else." Not to mention you rank high up there on the stubborn chart too, he thought.
--
She grips his hands tightly. "I'm...." Nika grins a little. "Well, I ain't got a thing I can say about that." It's true. "Let me get out of your hair so you can finish your shift."
--
"Not like you're in my way. If you want to stay and moongaze for a while, you know it won't bother me." Whitefall was starting to feel really large in the viewport. It was a different feel from travelling in pulse, but he kind of liked it.
--
A radiant smile crosses her face. "I would really, really love that. Thanks," Nika says softly. Her eyes go back to the front and she stares at the contrast between Black and moon raptly. "I didn't think I was ever going to see it again," she admits.
--
"Just don't go losing them again, young lady, or we might have to take away your allowance," Joshua said with mock admonishment. "We're not made of money, you know."
As he settled back in his seat, watching the moon with his captain, he said quietly, "We wouldn't have accepted any other outcome, Nika."
Go to Nika's Crew Page or Joshua's Crew Page
Go back to: Timeline Season Five, Jan 2522 to Aug 2522
