“Will we need any additional gear?” she asked after they’d outlined their plan in her quarters.
“No. We’re set,” Hawk said.
“Okay. I’ll update the captain on our plans and let Arin know that he’s in charge of security while I’m gone. Anything else?” When no one spoke up, she said, “Good. I’ll see you all at the docking bay in the morning.”
Peregrine said goodnight and made her escape. She probably had a date.
Ross and Raptor left together, but invited her along for some dinner.
“No, but thanks.” She appreciated the offer.
Hawk was last to leave. “Meet me at the pub in an hour,” he said as he stood.
“What? Why waste an evening on me when there’s a whole station full of people you haven’t seen naked?”
He gave her knee a light slap as he went by on his way to the door. “Hardly wasted on my favorite drinking buddy. It’s been too long since we had a drink together.”
He was right. It had been a couple months, at least. “Okay, but you’re buying.”
“Sure.”
“And I haven’t had dinner, so you can buy me that too.”
He rubbed his beard. “So long as you eat it at the bar, fine by me.”
“See you in an hour, then.”
Fallon was halfway through her ale when Hawk finally said, “Sooo…”
“Nope. Uh-uh.”
“What?” He feigned innocence so well that she could almost believe it.
She fixed him with a frosty look. “I know what you’re after. I already had to have a ‘feelings’ conversation with Wren, and then another with Raptor. I am not doing it again with you.”
“Didn’t say you had to.”
“Good. Because I won’t.” She tipped the rim of her glass at him to make her point.
“Good. I hate that stuff.” Hawk finished his drink and punched in an order for another, since they were at a table rather than sitting at the bar. He’d made only a token complaint about that because the bar had been full. “Feelings. Bleh.” He wore a look of disgust, which made her smile.
He waited a full minute until he said, “Although…”
She pointed at him in warning.
He chuckled. “You told each of them about the other, right?”
“Of course. They’re both fine with it.”
“Sounds like you aren’t fine with them being fine. Are you mad they aren’t jealous, or something? That each of them knows what they want, and it doesn’t involve the need to be your one and only?”
“No!” She bristled. He made her sound childish when she was only trying to be ethical.
His drink arrived and he began pouring it down his throat. He banged the glass down and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I don’t see your problem. You can relax and have a good time.”
“It’s not about a good time.”
“Maybe it should be. You’ve been way too serious the whole time I’ve known you. Probably before I knew you, too. Why shouldn’t you just enjoy yourself, for once in your life? Especially when we’re talking about two people who love you, and aren’t making demands on you? You’re one lucky asshole, and you don’t know it.”
She frowned at him. “I’m ordering food now.” She requested a variety of finger foods, then on second thought, doubled the order. Otherwise, Hawk would end up eating all her food.
“Give it some thought, will you?”
“Fine. I’ll think.” She added a dessert to her order. A big chocolate cake-pudding-pie thing that sounded both awful and awesome.
“That’s all I’m saying.”
She studied him. “Okay. You’re right about me being driven, at least. I was always that way, even as a kid. Fortunately I had a good family—still have a good family. They helped me channel my energy into something positive.” He had met her parents when they raided the Tokyo PAC base.
“But what about you? You grew up hard, didn’t you?” she asked, shifting the attention to him. She was sick of talking about herself.
He heaved a huge sigh, followed by a long pause that made her think he wouldn’t answer. Finally he said, “Yeah. Very hard. Tell you what. If we live through this thing we’re doing now, I’ll fill you in. But not tonight. Deal?”
“Deal. But if you want dessert, you need to order your own.”
“I don’t need any sweets.”
“Fine, but I’m serious. You’re not eating mine.” She gave him a threatening look.
He smiled.
Their food arrived as they finished their drinks, chatting about pleasantly impersonal things. As much as she preferred that, she felt she needed to be sure that Avian Unit wouldn’t change, in light of recent events.
“So,” she ventured, “you don’t have a problem with Raptor and me?”
“No. Never did. It was you two who were up your own asses about it.”
She laughed in surprise. “What about the whole complicating-the-team thing?”
“That’s the company line, but how’s it any different, really? We all look out for each other. Blood and bone. Whether you and Raptor bury your feelings for each other or not.”
She had no answer for that. “What does Peregrine think about it?”
He squinted at her. “If Per thought she had a shot at Raptor, she’d damn near throw you out an airlock. Since she knows she doesn’t, then yeah. Pretty much the same as what I think.”
Fallon laughed again, relieved.
The food arrived and they dug in while enjoying their drinks. When her dessert finally was set in front of her, Fallon gazed at it in amazement. The thing was a good thirty centimeters high.
“Guess you won’t mind if I have a bite after all.” Hawk’s fork began a trajectory toward her plate.
“Back off, lumberjack. Get your own.”
“You’re kidding. You can’t eat that whole thing on top of what you’ve already had.” He looked from her to the dessert and back again, as if calculating which one would win in a fight.
“Bet me.”
“You’re on. Loser has to moon the Briveen restaurant.”
“No. Those poor people are eating mandren. They don’t need to be forced to look at your hairy ass, too. Besides, I work here. Try again,” she ordered.
“They’d be lucky to see my ass,” he grumbled.
