#john-117

You saluted then stepped back, indicating your unexpected visitor should enter.

Dr. Miranda Keyes stepped inside the room, her eyes seeming to take in everything all at once. "Colorful," she finally pronounced. "I honestly wouldn't have expected it from Master Chief. Did you do the decorating?"

"A lot of it came from Kai," you said, "though John did add the stars for me."

After you admitted that, you wondered if you shouldn't have told her that part. But John didn't seem to care who knew and you felt a little like you needed to defend him against… What? Dr. Keyes thinking he was boring?

"I was going to call you to my office but Dr. Savannah strongly advised against having you walk that far." The slight raise to one eyebrow provided all the hint you needed as to how strongly that advice had been given.

"I'm supposed to start more active PT today," you said, "and hopefully light duty very soon."

"Good. Now, I did request you be given the clearance that Master Chief wanted for you. Most of it was denied."

You nodded, having expected that. I hope John isn't too upset. He seems to really want to be able to talk about something.

"However," she went on, "I was able to get it for one thing: Cortana."

There was a brief, crystal-sharp moment where you thought she was going to tell you that Cortana was his wife. Maybe that the UNSC had them in some sort of Spartan arranged marriage. You hadn't realized how much fiction you'd consumed in your life until a bunch of tragic rom-com options fanned through your mind like a demented deck of cards.

"Yes, ma'am?" you said and went so hard into attention it felt like your spine would never bend again, bracing for whatever news Dr. Keyes was about to bludgeon you with.

"Cortana is an A.I. linked to Master Chief."

It was so far removed from what you'd been expecting, you just blinked. "I wasn't aware tech was that advanced yet, ma'am."

Dr. Keyes looked slightly bitter. "It shouldn't be," she said, her tone tight. "My… Dr. Halsey took some unethical shortcuts to create Cortana."

"And John is her trainer or handler?"

The bitter look deepened. "When I say that she's linked to him, I mean physically. Cortana is implanted directly into Master Chief's brain."

Your own mind boggled with a million implications, most of them bad, many of them fatal. "Is that safe, ma'am? An A.I. directly implanted into a human brain—"

"A Spartan brain," she corrected and anger briefly flashed in her eyes. "If he were an unaugmented human, I highly doubt he would've even survived the procedure."

You thought of all of his scars, all of the places where he'd been taken apart then stitched back together into the shape that someone else had decided for him.

Dr. Keyes seemed on the verge of saying something else, then caught herself, and adopted her profession mien once more. "You can ask Master Chief or Cortana herself any other questions."

"Thank you, ma'am," you said, saluting as you recognized the dismissal.

She inclined her head, gave the room a final, mildly curious once over, then left.

You forced your spine to unlock and sat on the couch. All of the times when he'd seemed to be hearing something in his ear…? Did the A.I. in his head somehow have access to his auditory cortex? Could she hear his thoughts? Know how he felt?

Then there's the fact that I thought I was talking to a person all this time. Was I? Is an A.I. linked into an organic brain a person?

Trying to process all of that made you feel slightly woozy.

On impulse, you said aloud, "Cortana?"

"I'm here," she said immediately and you could almost swear she sounded relieved that you called for her.

Had she been worried you wouldn't want to talk to her again? Wait, did an A.I. worry? You doubted that your padd had ever worried on days when you didn't log in at the usual time. But Cortana was clearly so much more than a simple electronic device. You had, of course, dealt with various forms of A.I. before but none had ever seemed so real.

"Dr. Keyes said you're physically with John. So does that mean he's here on Reach?"

"No, Silver Team is on deployment. I left behind a curated segment of my code that can converse with you and answer many of your questions."

"So, I'm speaking with a part of Cortana?"

"Indeed. When we return, my main program will reassimilate our conversation so that nothing will be lost and it will be just as if that's who you'd been speaking to all along. If necessary, though, I have the ability to access long-range communications, should you need to contact Master Chief before Silver Team returns."

"He left a way for me to contact him? That's—" really against regulations and also definitely the sweetest thing anybody's ever done for me before "—unusual, isn't it?"

"Your safety is important to him. He wanted a way to know if you were in danger." She paused then said, "Oh, I see that Physical Therapy has added a session for you. I'll let you prepare. Could… could we perhaps talk more later?"

The cautiously hopeful tone gave you pause once more.

"I'd like that," you said sincerely and could've sworn that her soft sign-off chime sounded happier than usual.

The next few days went by quickly. Dr. Savannah approved your increased PT sessions as well as allowing you to begin taking your meals in the Mess once more. You had to admit, it took a little adjusting to go back to the standard meals instead of the custom Spartan ones John had been having sent to his room, but it felt good to become more ambulatory.

It was going to take a lot more adjusting when you had to return to your cot in the marine barracks after having enjoyed the much more spacious bed and room amenities. And, of course, all of that paled compared to missing John himself.

Trying to picture him crowding onto the cot with you while the other marines stared in utter envy did give you a bit of a laugh. Of course you'd known this couldn't last but you were determined to enjoy it as long as possible. If you were lucky, Silver Team would get back before that order came down and you'd get to spend at least one more precious night with John.

But Silver Team still hadn't returned when you were officially cleared for light duty. You'd amassed several new casual outfits, probably more than you could store in your footlocker, but you decided to try. As you laid them out on the bed and began rolling them as compactly as possible, you heard a soft chime.

Looking up, you spotted the holo on the wall politely flickering. "Cortana?"

"I don't mean to speak out of line," she said immediately, like she'd been barely able to wait for you to acknowledge her, "but why are you packing?"

Your eyebrows lifted. "I'm returning to duty in the morning," you said, surprised that she wasn't aware of that already. "So I thought I might as well get back to the barracks tonight and head out from there."

"But you… One moment, please."

She was silent for so long that you finished rolling up your clothing, found a small rucksack in the closet and filled it. Looking around the room that had been your home while you healed, you smiled at the tapestry with the field of sunflowers on the wall, the rainbow jewel tones in the pillows on the couch and the duvet on the bed, all gifted from Kai. Overhead, the stars that John had put up for you twinkled in the light.

Impulsively, you grabbed your padd and snapped a few pictures. Whenever things got tough in the future, you wanted to still be able to see those stars your Spartan had hung up for you.

Your padd chimed and you looked down, staring as a new order scrolled out. You read it twice to make sure you weren't willing the words into being by wishful thinking: you had been permanently assigned to Room 117.

"Cortana?"

"Yes?"

"What sort of strings did John have to pull for this? I mean, I don't even know how he was able to get this done, honestly."

"It benefits the UNSC to keep the Master Chief happy," she said succinctly. "Also, are you aware that you have permission to eat in the Spartan Mess Hall?"

"Really? No, I was not aware of that." You considered that briefly: imagining moving through the Spartans and hauling yourself up into one of the taller chairs, while your feet swung under the table like you were a kid who had wandered into the grown-ups' lounge. "I think I'll stick with the Marine's Mess. Yeah, the Spartan food is better but it doesn't mean as much without John here, you know?"

She paused, calculating her response. "I'll take your word for it," she finally said. "Though John may require a bit more convincing."

You were still thinking about all of that the next day as you headed to start your shift. How had you gotten so lucky? But when you clocked in and went to your erstwhile office-closet and opened the door, you momentarily revised your estimation about your luck.

Did the bomb go off in here as well as the Pit? you thought, looking up at the piles of machine parts and requisition papers stacked on all sides of your desk. But when you went around to take a seat, an olive green gift bag hidden by the rest of the flotsam and jetsam was revealed.

You instantly thought John? but when you flipped the tag open, you read: "Even the Hero of the Pit needs a friend to keep her company while a certain Spartan is away" and it was signed from the mechanic's team, all in Maria's distinctive handwriting.

Then you looked down into the bag and grinned.

Most of your morning revolved around organizing things into piles of urgent, not as urgent and went past urgent 3 days ago. Despite that, you found yourself glad that your day was over at your lunch break. You stopped at the Mess for a quick bite to eat, hoping you'd see Maria or Jamie but neither of your friends were apparently on the same schedule as you.

You headed back to Room 117, the gift bag tucked under your arm, and you sighed slightly as you went through the door.

"Are you all right?" Cortana instantly asked.

"Oh, hey," you said. "Yeah, just got to get back in the swing of working."

She quietly watched you put the bag on the table, then inquired, "Did you receive a gift?"

"I did. You didn't already know? I thought…"

"It's very important to John that you don't feel spied on. I only passively monitor for indications of distress or for you to speak to me."

She sounded so serious that you were worried you'd offended her by your flippant belief she constantly watched your every move. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that to sound like an accusation."

"Of course, no apology necessary."

To hopefully lighten the mood, you pulled your gift out of the bag.

"Is that…?"

"It is," you confirmed.

After a moment's pause, she proclaimed, "I can't wait for Silver Team to get back."

"Me, too," you agreed.

A few more days passed and you settled into the routine of wrangling the mess in your little office into something more manageable. Hopefully it wouldn't be long before you were cleared to work the Brokkr stations. Maybe the very day that Silver Team returned and you could be the one to armor-down John and then he would swoop you up in his arms and then–

Well, you'd probably be dishonorably discharged if you did a fraction of the things that flittered through your mind but it definitely made for an interesting daydream.

After one particularly strenuous PT session, you headed back to John's room, sweaty and tired but happy with your progress. Your strength was definitely returning.

The holo chimed as you entered and Cortana didn't even wait for your acknowledgement to say, "Silver Team is back on Reach."

You startled as if receiving a mild shock. "How recently back on Reach? Have they already been through the Brokkr?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "They're in debrief."

Which would probably take hours but… You looked down at the sodden mess of your clothes.

"I need a shower," you said, hurrying towards the bathroom. Only after the fact, you wondered if Cortana thought that was an odd response.

You were in such a rush that you'd already shed your clothes and had almost jumped under the spray when you realized you'd forgotten a towel. The setup of the bathroom meant you had to cross the open doorway to the rest of the room to reach the shelves and you couldn't help but side-eye the main door as if expecting an entire Covenant squad to burst in at any second.

Only once you'd cleaned up and were dressed in a set of clean civvies in your favorite color did you make yourself sit down on the couch.

"Cortana? Are they still in debrief?"

"Yes," she confirmed.

Thinking about what she had told you before, you asked, "Am I still speaking with a part of you?"

"I reassimilated our previous conversations as soon as I was within contact distance," she said. "I'm currently with John during his debrief and am speaking with you simultaneously."

"Oh, I don't want to be a distraction."

"I am quite able to multitask," she said in such an assured tone that you knew you'd made a silly statement by suggesting otherwise.

You managed to stay seated for a dozen or so more seconds, then were on your feet again. You did a quick tidying up of the room, even though it was already shipshape, and was debating what else to do when Cortana said, "Debrief has concluded."

You made yourself return to the couch and settle. Even if he comes straight here, given the time it would take to get to the lift, if there's heavy foot traffic, if someone stops him along the way, if he needs to confer with the rest of Silver first, all of that, then it'll be at least a good 15 to 20 min—"

The door unlocked and slid open, interrupting the thought, and John entered at a fast pace, still in his black undersuit and looking slightly alarmed. You jumped up at that and both of you said at the same time, "Are you okay?"

Then you crossed to him, adding, "What happened? Are you injured?" as you gave him a cursory once-over.

"No, I was just… Cor—She said you were still here but I needed to see for myself."

"Cortana?" you asked, unsure as to why he was censoring her name. Then the rest of what he said dawned on you. Wait, was I actually supposed to go back to the barracks after all?

But before you could ask, he continued, "Yeah, Cortana. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you about her before. You had the right to know that whenever it seemed like we were alone, we weren't. And now that you know, if you don't want to… Look, I wouldn't blame you for wanting… out."

Your heart constricted as you realized what he was saying and you reached out to take one of his hands in both of yours. "Oh, John, that's what you're worried about?"

He kept glancing away, like he was bracing for rejection. "She'll always be here. She can't be removed."

"She doesn't have to be, not on my account," you said firmly. "I've had some time to think about this since Dr. Keyes first told me about her. She's intended to be some sort of Spartan battle enhancement, isn't she?"

He nodded, still looking past you. "She increases my reaction times, makes my connection to my Mjolnir tighter, more efficient."

"Has she kept you from getting injured or worse?"

"Yeah," he admitted.

"Then how could I be anything but glad?"

That got him to look at you.

"Did you volunteer for this?" you went on and were unsurprised when he shook his head.

"To Halsey, Spartans are weapons," he said flatly. "You don't ask your rifle if it minds being fitted with a new sight."

You squeezed his hand. "When I was trapped, buried under all of that rubble, she stayed with me. It meant a lot to not feel like I was alone. Now I know that she'll always be there with you, that whatever tight situation you get into, you won't ever be alone either."

"So you're… okay with this?" he asked hesitantly, like he didn't dare yet commit to believing you weren't about to charge out the door and leave him behind forever.

"John, I am in it to win it with you," you said assuredly and that got the corner of his mouth to twitch.

"I'm not entirely sure what that means," he confessed, "but I like the way it sounds. Yeah, I'm 'in it to win it' with you, too. And now that we've got that settled, I have to ask: is that me?"

You grinned, releasing his hand so you could go to the nightstand where you'd left the pudgy plushy in its distinctive green Mjolnir and pick it up. "It was a gift from my friends on my first day back at work."

"PFC Maria Doherty and Private Jamie Holland," he said in an offhand tone, then the corner of his mouth twitched again at your reaction. "Yeah, I know who they are. They're important to you so they're important to me."

"They wanted me to have a standby to hug when you're deployed," you said. "But now that the life-sized version is here… Permission to hug the Master Chief?"

That finally earned a full-fledged smile from him, but he aborted the motion as he started to reach for you. "I, uh, really should shower first. I came here directly from debrief." He gave the room a quick, tactical assessment. "Do you care if I use this one? I'm pretty sure I have some civvies here."

"Of course. It's your room."

He vanished through the open bathroom doorway and went left towards the shower. In short order, you heard his boots drop to the floor, followed by what was presumably his undersuit.

You and Plushy Master Chief took up a spot on the end of the bed, flipping the holo on with the intention of scanning the newsfeeds while you waited. Movement caught your attention from the corner of your eye and when you automatically looked…

…you got an absolute eyeful of naked Spartan as he retrieved a towel from the shelves on the right of the doorway.

You yanked your gaze forward, back as straight as if you were in front of every 5-star admiral who'd ever existed.

"Oh, by the way?"

You turned a little too rigidly to be convincingly nonchalant, finding him leaning around the doorway.

"It's not my room," he said, giving you a slight, soft smile. "It's ours."