Moonlight talk

"Jack?" Miranda asked, causing the tattooed woman in question to gasp before trying to steel her nerves again as she lowered her hands.

"Fu-" Jack began, her voice cracking before she cleared her throat. "Fuck off, Bitch!"

Miranda sighed as she walked forward, sitting down next to Jack on the log.

"What part of that was too hard for you to understand?!" Jack growled, not looking at Miranda. "When I say -"

"I'm sorry." Miranda interrupted, "What I said was completely out of line and... I'm sorry that I hurt you."

"So what do you want? A freaking medal?" Jack snarled, still not looking at her 'wife'. "And you didn't hurt me! What? You think I'm some kinda wimp that can't take a few words?!"

"Not when I found you crying as violently as you -"

"I WAS NOT CRYING!" Jack snapped, her voice cracking as she turned to face Miranda. "You clearly don't know me if you thought I was crying like some kinda... Kinda... What?! You think I'm a wuss or something?!"

"No, but you're a human being." Miranda said, guilt in her voice. "And I... Really should've treated you better. I never should've called you a mistake. You -"

"That's not it." Jack interrupted, shaking her head. "I can handle you calling me a mistake! It's... Forget it."

"What?"

"Just fucking drop it and leave me alone, Cheerleader."

Miranda went to open her mouth again, only for her brain to finally connect the dots about what had Jack so upset. "It's because I said that you were going to die alone, unwanted, and unloved, wasn't it?"

"Okay, this right here?" Jack began as she looked away from Miranda again, "This is the exact opposite of what I told you to do."

"Jack? Back when you said that you loved me sometimes..."

"Miranda, I'm warning you. If you are not out of my face in the next three seconds..."

"Did you really mean it?" Miranda asked, "Do you... Do you actually love me?"

Jack remained silent for a few minutes, her shoulders shaking again as she made a noise that sounded like she was **** back a sob. Miranda sighed, slowly rising to her feet again...

Only for Jack's hand to grab her wrist, the dark haired woman looking down at the sighing tattooed woman. "Wait..."

"Why the hell isn't this coming off?!" Kasumi growled as she scrubbed herself in the stream with a small bar of travel soap, her clothes on the bank. She took a voluntary sniff of her arm, only to recoil in disgust. "This is freaking pee! The smell shouldn't be this hard to wash off!"

Kasumi grumbled as she continued to scrub herself, almost certain that the smell was starting to get worse now as she groaned. As she was scrubbing, Kasumi was unaware of three gray furred creatures with black masks and ringed tails clutching her clothes, carrying them off as they left behind her cloaking device and recorder...

And turning the latter on to live viewing as she bathed in the stream.

"Did you die at the freaking wheel?!" Jane shouted out the window at the skycars in front of them before groaning in annoyance. "Unbelievable! You'd think that traffic jams wouldn't be a problem here, but nope! If time travel was a thing, I bet the people who invented skycars would be shocked by this news!"

"And this is exactly why you're no longer allowed to drive." Liara stated calmly, pulling out and turning around. "Hang on, we're taking the scenic route."

Miranda waited patiently as Jack took a deep breath, sitting back down on the log as the tattooed woman calmed herself down. After a couple of minutes, Jack finally spoke.

"You were right. I... I am gonna die alone." She said, "Do you know how many times I had one night stands with anyone who wanted to screw me? More than I can count. You wanna know how many ended up leaving before I woke up, most of the times without a note? You wanna know how many pulled the whole 'It was just a one time thing' bull? You wanna know how many I... I actually thought cared about me? Every last one of them."

"But, back at my apartment you said -"

"I was lying." Jack admitted, "None of the people or aliens I slept with saw me as more than just a quickie or a form of stress relief. So, yeah. When I woke up today married to you, I was..." She thought for a second before saying, "Well, not gonna lie, I was confused and angry about how that was the most stupidest thing I've ever done while drunk."

"But...?"

"But," Jack continued, "a part of me actually felt, like, happy that it happened. So again, you were right. I guess it was the part where I... *mumbles*"

"Where you what?"

"WhereIdevelopedacrushonyou."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I -"

"Where I developed a crush on you, okay?!" Jack snapped in annoyance. "I mean, don't get the wrong idea. When we first met, I hated your fucking guts and I wanted to paint the walls of The Normandy with your remains for what Cerberus did to me. But after The Citadel... I don't know, something just made you more... Like I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you, you know?"

"Jack..." Miranda said softly.

"Not that it matters anyway. You said it yourself, you'd never return those feelings."

A new wave of guilt crashed over Miranda. "Not that I'd ever return those feelings..." She heard herself saying, feeling the cold sting of her words for the first time.

"I actually used that as a weapon." She thought to herself.

"I really am gonna die alone, unwanted, and unloved." Jack said as she hung her head. "The only ones who are gonna mourn me when I'm gone are my kids and Eezo. Which, I love them all, I do, but..."

"But that's not the love you're looking for." Miranda thought, finishing Jack's sentence in her head.

"And if you utter any of this to anyone, I will kill you." Jack spat, glaring at Miranda before letting out a sigh. Getting to her feet, the tattooed woman said, "Maybe Liara still has those contracts. I could live with being her sex ****. Maybe."

Miranda watched as Jack walked away, getting to her feet as she followed the tattooed woman before the latter led her lead the way. As she walked, Miranda was deep in thought, trying to think of a way to make it up to the tattooed woman.

Suddenly, an idea came to her, causing the woman to stop and face a confused Jack with a smile.