(Untitled)

[alderaani_intel]

The door to their room slams closed, and she bypasses the rest of the room immediately and goes to the bathroom, slamming that door closed too, turning the faucet on and leaning against the door, stonily staring at the water flowing.

Her teeth are clenched, and her head falls back against the door with a thunk.

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[twostandingby]

Tycho, sprawled out on the bed, gives a disconcerted stare at the closed bathroom door, biro frozen halfway to the pad of flimsi.

After a moment, he gets up and walks across the room, near-silent in bare feet. He taps lightly on the 'fresher door, hand cautious.

"Winter?"

[alderaani_intel]

His voice is what gets her. She turns the faucet off and opens the door, falling into him, crying, fingers grasping at his shirt.

[twostandingby]

Tycho has no idea what happened, but he grabs her immediately. He guides her face into his neck and he stands there, bewildered, one arm secure around her waist and his other hand stroking her hair.

[alderaani_intel]

"I hate her." Her voice shakes as she clings to him harder. She allows herself to cry into his neck for a moment more before pulling away, pressing fingers under her eyes to wipe tears.

[twostandingby]

"Who?" he asks, but he stiffened and went silent the moment she said it; he knows exactly who she means.

[alderaani_intel]

She pulls away completely, stumbling back into the bathroom to splash water on her face, to get herself under control.

She's hysterical and angry at herself for being this way. She takes shaky breaths and sighs. "Isard."

[twostandingby]

He doesn't say, 'you promised' because that would be childish. Instead, he follows her and he leans quietly against the doorframe. "What'd she say?"

[alderaani_intel]

"She..." Winter's hands grip the sink tight, knuckles turning white. "She...implied that you were her pawn still."

[twostandingby]

His jaw sets, but he doesn't move; says mildly, "But I'm not."

[alderaani_intel]

She looks down at her hand, rubbing at the spot of red on a knuckle. "I lost control. I...hit her."

She feels stupid, saying it. Losing all her hard worked on control like that. But the bitch deserved it.

[twostandingby]

Tycho's eyebrows shoot up.

"You hit her? I--" Thought you had more self-control than that. Hope you're not going to get into trouble for it.

Wish I'd seen that.

"And here I thought it was my pilots I had to warn away from violence." His tone is light, though it darkens again quickly. "What'd she do?"

[alderaani_intel]

She dabs at the blood on her hand with water, and turns to face him, leaning against the sink. "Insult us some more. I walked away."

One punch too late.

[twostandingby]

He takes two steps across the cold tile and he's standing with her, picking up a cloth and her hand. He soaks the cloth under the faucet and gently presses it against her split knuckles. "You could use some ice," he says, and he glances up from his task for a moment. "We can't afford to have Isard after us any more than she already is, or to get in trouble with security. You're not planning on a repeat performance, are you?"

[alderaani_intel]

She concentrates on looking at her hand and not him for the longest moment. Finally she looks up at him, tears in her eyes again--she can't think long enough to get herself under complete control. "I don't know."

She pushed hair out of his face with the unbruised hand. "She's doing it, Tycho. Invading our space. This was supposed to be ours...and she's ruining it."

Tainting it. Her words run continually through her head. Another time to curse the holographic and audiographic memory.

[twostandingby]

Tycho's hands still. "Don't let her," he says fiercely, and it's funny how usual roles are reversing in this conversation. "It still is ours. We just have to avoid her, keep cool heads." He leans in to her hand, and he tells her, "Even Iceheart can't ruin a kriffing thing as long as you're here, Winter D'Altaire."

[alderaani_intel]

"She knew who I was. She's going to--" She takes a deep breath and ducks her head in a nod, looking down at her feet as she wets her lips slowly, before looking back up at him with determination now, nodding again.

She closes the distance between them and kisses him. "Avoid her," she breathes against his lips, "I can do that."