#months?

How many months have you two been together?

Months?

Space stretched out from the Infinity's observation deck like a ocean of pitch-black ink studded by diamonds. He had never really come to terms with just how... vast space managed to be. It went on forever, in every direction. Infinite.

The ship's name had never felt more appropriate. She was supposed to carry humanity on to infinity. She was supposed to be the final bastion, the last hope for a species on the brink of collapse. And now she was their pride and joy, their shining pinnacle of achievement. She was incredible.

Cortana would have loved a ship like this.

The door slid open on quiet tracks, but they seemed almost deafening in the otherwise silence of the observation deck. John nearly snapped to attention on reflex, but elected to stay still instead. He listened as the newcomer approached, steps slow and almost uncertain, but... but he knew them. He knew them like he knew his own.

She stopped three meters behind him and held still then. Silent. Observing. Taking in every bit of him and invariably coming to the right conclusion whether he wanted her to or not. She was always good at that - at figuring out exactly what was going through his head even when he didn't know.

"You're mourning her," she said, her voice no more than a whisper. A gentle caress on a summer's breeze. Even without turning around he knew that she had opened her mouth again to say something else, but she faltered. That was unlike her. She never took a misstep, never miscalculated. She was always sure, cool, confident... to feel her hesitation now was neary enough to derail his train of thought all over again.

"I'll give you time," she said. Short. Simple. Kind, really. For him it had been a matter of months. For her it had been years. And still she was willing to give him time to mourn his friend - more than his friend, a piece of himself.

He didn't' know what to say. Didn't know if he could say anything without faltering in a way that the Master Chief simply could not allow. But when he heard her start to turn on her heel, he knew that he couldn't let her.

The Master Chief was a machine. A tool. A stoic piece of propaganda in some very talented hands.

But John? John. Somewhere down inside, John was still a man. Cortana had reminded him of that.

"Stay."

The word was soft. Hoarse. All but broken. But he said it because he couldn't not say it. He couldn't let her walk away. Because even if it had only been months for him when it was years for her, those months were torture enough. Because she was the one person he wanted beside him when he felt like this - at his weakest, at his most lost.

She didn't make him say it a second time.

Now she was beside him. Her green eyes stark and vibrant, almost electric against her pale skin. Her red hair cut shorter than the last time he saw it, but in a way that suited her perfectly. She didn't say anything. She just stood beside him. Let her hand fall by her side and reached out just far enough to hook his small finger with hers. Let him know she was there.

She just... stayed.