Disclaimer - MGM/Gekko/Double Secret own them.
This was written especially for gunfodder who, knowing I had the day off today, asked for something to keep the workers going ;) This is entirely your fault.
'Beneath The Surface' episode addition.
*
She'd been trying to concentrate on regulating the pressure for the last five minutes, but that was it - she couldn't help herself anymore. She had to know what was causing the excited babbling several dozen feet away.
Quite frankly it was unusual behaviour. While everyone was generally content - it was such an honour to serve, after all - she'd never really seen anyone be particularly excited about anything. In fact, as far as she could remember, she'd never felt particularly excited about anything herself.
And it occurred to her how...wrong that was. But then if she'd never been excited, how should she know that it was wrong *not* to feel excited? How did she even know what it was supposed to feel like?
She was thinking too much.
She'd been told that she did that on more than one occasion, a thought that made her lips curve up in a smile.
Giving the level reader one last check and knowing it was good for another minute or so, she finally turned away and stepped closer to the group of people who'd congregated near the food area.
Rather than interact with them, she waited until she was close enough to eavesdrop and somebody else who didn't know what was going on arrived.
Malren, if she remembered correctly.
"What's happening?"
"You haven't heard?" That was...Trelina?
"Haven't heard what?"
"There's been a change in the rules - workers are now allowed to form relationships with each other. Brenna just told me."
Thera's eyebrows lifted. That was an unexpected development. Romantic relationships between workers had always been against the rules, following fears that they could become distracted. But apparently...
"Why the change?"
"Seems they now think that letting the workers be with who they want to be with would make them happier - and thus work harder."
Of course. They always had a good reason for every decision they made. That was to be expected.
Unlike her who, for no good reason that she could think of, walked back to where she'd been working and asked someone else to keep on eye on the valve for her.
Who, for still no good reason that she could think of, suddenly need to be *somewhere else*.
She didn't know where she was going, but her feet were definitely carrying her somewhere, her head lowered as she frowned and tried to speculate - but for once, she couldn't. She couldn't speculate. Couldn't think.
All she could feel was that with every step she took, there was...something in her stomach. Or more precisely, it felt like her stomach was tightening together, shrinking. And for some completely mysterious reason, she was suddenly starting to smile.
And then she heard the footsteps. The *running* footsteps.
For some reason that was important.
Suddenly lifting her head up, she stopped walking just as Jonah careened into view, running around the corner of a machine and almost - almost - running right into her.
She didn't have time to be disappointed that he hadn't, because she couldn't think again.
He'd stopped, just short of touching her, still breathing heavily.
Oh yeah. *Really* couldn't think.
And oh, wow - her stomach was absolutely- "What are you doing here?" Was that her? She didn't remember intending to speak.
"Oh," He was trying for casual for failing miserably. He looked a little too...scared? Yeah, he looked a little too scared for it to be convincing. "I was in the area. Thought I'd stop by."
She should have pointed out that running madly towards this section wasn't quite the same as being 'in the area'...but she didn't. "And here you are." And why was she grinning so hard that her teeth were in trouble of imploding?
"So," He cleared his throat, gestured in the general direction of somewhere. "You, uh, wanna go for a wal-?"
"Yes."
So they walked. Side by side, away from the others, away from the machines. She'd never done that before - walked away in the middle of her shift. It was liberating. Of course if anyone reported them there'd be trouble but really, at the moment? She didn't care.
That was new too.
They talked of work, and well, work (there wasn't much else to discuss) and eventually the talking and the clanging of metal on metal got further and further away. They were about as far away from the rest of the plant as they were going to get.
It was when they paused near a wall that he spoke.
Not that he could look at her, as he did so, his right hand rubbing over the back of his neck as he stared down at his shoes. "So I...I had an interesting chat with Brenna a few minutes ago."
"You did?" Acting completely on instinct, her right hand reached out to hold onto his left. Pleased at the expression of shock on his face, she tugged him towards her, placing his hand on her hip. "What did she say?" It was strange how confident she felt right now. Not that she wasn't enjoying it...
And, pretty rapidly, he adjusted to the situation. "Yeah." He moved closer still, his head lowering to place gentle, almost non-existent kisses on her neck, her head tilting back as he spoke against her skin. "Something about," Another kiss. "Changing," Another. "The rules."
She was going to respond. She was. But her eyes had already closed, her body was all but singing, and her stomach now felt like it'd turned into iron.
Realistically, there was only one course of action. And though she couldn't remember ever doing anything like this, she tugged his hat off and threw it aside, and one hand grabbed his head and guided his mouth to hers, as the other worked through that delectable hair that he always kept hidden.
Oh...good...*God*...
It was too much, it was almost too much as they broke for air then came back again, as his hands were all over her and vice versa, as he growled her name in a way that made her entire body shiver...
"More," She whispered, his fingers on her skin, her hands pulling him closer.
It was almost too much.
But it wasn't enough.
~FINIS