Dishonourable Discharge: Grace Augustine

69

Ivory poked her head around the door of Trudy's bedroom, keeping her eyes tightly shut. "Have you seen Grace anywhere?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in the medical bay?" Trudy asked. "And you can open your eyes, Norm isn't in here."

Ivory opened her eyes then pushed the door open properly, wincing slightly. "Are you going to make me go back if I say yes?"

Trudy shook her head. "You're a grown woman, I'm not the boss of you. You should be back there but I'm not going to make you."

"Thanks. Do you know where Grace went? She was in the bay with me but she stormed out a bit ago."

The brunette shrugged her shoulders. "No idea. She was pretty cut up about you getting hurt though, she might be getting some air or something. I think she wanted to be left alone."

"Thanks, I'll go look."

"No problem. And Vee?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're safe."

Ivory pushed the airlock open and stepped outside, the cool breeze lifting her tangled hair. "Jesus Christ!" She yelped, grabbing at the handrail to steady herself as she almost collided with Grace who was huddled on the top step, a dark green hoodie wrapped around her shoulders. "Hey that's my hoodie."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Grace demanded.

Ivory snorted. "We haven't got the time to get into that."

"Seriously Ivy?" Grace's voice cracked. "I thought you were dead and all you can say is 'that's my hoodie'?"

"I-"

"You don't understand. It was like going through the school massacre all over again-" the redhead broke off, sniffing. "I thought I'd finally lost every person I've ever truly cared about. I thought I was going to have to find your body in that forest and bring it back here and give you one of those cold, clinical funerals that are the only goddamned option on this planet. I can't ever see something like that happen to you. I think it would actually-" Grace's face crumpled behind her exopack.

Ivory sank down onto the step beside Grace, wrapping an arm around the woman's shaking shoulders. "It's okay, I'm fine."

"I thought you were dead." Grace began to sob.

"Grace..." Ivory murmured, reaching out to wipe the tears off of her girlfriends cheek, letting out a huff of frustration as her fingers connected with the cool glass of her exopack.

"I thought you were dead."

Ivory opened her eyes slowly, squinting through the gloom. Grace's face was buried into her chest and she was breathing slowly. Ivory shifted slightly, wincing as she tried to move Grace's arm off of her stomach.

Grace stirred, groaning quietly. "What time is it?" She asked, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Early." Ivory mumbled, reaching a hand down to pet the ginger cat who was curled up at her side.

"How are you feeling?" Grace reached up and brushed the hair away from her girlfriend's face.

"I'm alright."

"Ivy you're only in your own bed because you agreed that you'd be honest with me about how you felt."

"My stomach hurts, my head hurts and my hair feels like a crusty wire brush."

Grace reached over to the bedside table and picked up her phone, a small smile flickering across her face as the screen lit up to show her lock screen which was a photo of Ivory asleep with Tigger curled up by her side. "It's seven am which means it's another two hours before you can have any painkillers."

"I am your team medic Grace, I do know these things."

"Doll just let me take care of you."

"Can you help me sort my hair?"

Grace grinned. "I thought you didn't care about how you look."

"Not really but I do care when it feels like my hair got dipped in tar."

"Come on then, let's get you in the shower." The redhead reached out and rubbed her thumb over the thick scar on Ivory's face. "And we need to make sure you don't-"

"Get my bandages wet, I know," Ivory interjected.

Grace was sat on the floor behind Ivory, cringing every time the brush that she was trying to pull through her girlfriend's hair got caught in another tangle.

"I'm trying my best." Grace reached down and tried to pull the brush from where it had gotten caught.

"I don't understand how it got this bad." Ivory grabbed one of the hair bobbles from the tub by her thigh and secured the end of the plait of detangled hair that hung down by her cheek.

"Well there was the explosion, the two days in the medical bay, getting it tangled with your exopack strap last night as well as the copious amounts of dried blood that's matted into it."

"Grace about the explosion..." Ivory began warily.

"Yes?"

"What's happening now? Are the Na'vi safe? Are we staying on Pandora?" Ivory asked in a rush.

A/N: I'm going to be childish and laugh at the chapter number. Happy Christmas if you celebrate. And if not happy Sunday.