Vasquez lets out a scoff. "She's obviously not thinking clearly. Neither of them are, or this wouldn't be happening. They're playing with fire, Jason. It takes one fucking slip-up. One!" A raised pointer finger waved in Jason's face to emphasize the number.
#RedrockAgency – April 20, 2025
Jason's frustration seems to further deflate as Vasquez' ire turns away from him once more and back towards Halisi and Ilyna, a sigh slipping out of him. "I didn't come here to fight with you, Linda. Hell, I get it." he says. Fearing interjection he tries to get out ahead of it, briefly lifting a hand. "I do get it." he assures her, the previous levity he had attempted to establish all but gone from his expression. "But we both
know this isn't about Ilyna. So can we-...?" he gestures to the bench with a dip of his head in a silent invitation to join him, blue eyes seeking hers out as he retakes his seat in an attempt at further diffusing the situation and avoiding an argument he never intended to have.
Vasquez ' anger loses steam in the face of Jason's mellow response, a bit of awkwardness entering her face as she watches him take a seat, and eyes the bench. She grimaces slightly and nods, sinking down to sit next to Jason and leaning forward, looking down at her fidgeting hands, elbows rested on her legs. A tense silence takes hold as she falls silent.
Jason gives the silence a few moments to breathe as he tries to regain his footing. Her own shift in demeanor confirms what he had already assumed. She isn't looking for a fight either. Not really, anyway. He draws in a breath before bringing one leg over the bench so he's straddling it and facing Vasquez. "I-... uhh-... I don't know if I ever told you. But back when everything-..." he sucks in his lips, brows pinching slightly as
he decides not to dance around it. Give it the weight it deserves. "Back on Niacal." he corrects. "I carried you back to the shuttle. Covered you in a blanket and sat with you. Thought you were dead at first. When I realized you weren't?" he shrugs, "I figured it wouldn't be long before you were. So I just-... stayed with you." There's a short pause, his gaze dropping briefly to the bench between them. "I think about that a
lot. Can't even imagine what it's like for you. So-..." he nods to himself before looking back to her, "...yeah. I get it."
Vasquez continues to look at her hands as she listens, the thumb of one finger tracing the index finger of the other. She doesn't respond directly to Jason's talk of the past. A time that's little more than a jumbled, confusing nightmare in her head. A time with a single anchor, a single pinprick of light that made sense. Him. She lets out a heavy, almost shuddering sigh, closing her eyes, and some of the tension lifts from her
shoulders. "I'm not trying to be an asshole, Jason. I'm not," she says, eyes open, looking across the room at the door. The anger is gone, and she sounds tired more than anything. "I just-... somebody's got to put a stop to it before it goes sideways. Before people start getting hurt. If that makes me the bad guy, then... fine. Whatever."
Jason furrows his brows and offers a shake of his head. "You're not the 'bad guy', Linda. You're just scared." There's no judgement in his tone. It's matter of fact. It just is. "But you're also wrong." he reiterates. It, too, comes without judgement. Sympathy? Compassion? Understanding? Sure. But no judgement. He reaches out, placing a hand on her leg as he scoots closer to close the gap between them on the bench. "Ilyna is
Vasquez tenses up again, hands closing into fists, but the hand on her leg keeps her from snapping at Jason again, instead reaching over to grab his hand, giving the synthetic material a squeeze, looking his way. "I know that, Jason. And I trust Ilyna's intentions. But that's not the point. It doesn't change what she is. And that's not her fault. It's not fair. But it's a fact. One mistake, one moment of weakness, that's all
it takes. Just one. I thought she knew that, I thought she knew better than to put herself in this kind of situation..." Another squeeze. Her eyes are searching his in the hopes of seeing real understanding. That her concern won't be dismissed as paranoia.
Jason draws in another breath, head dipping a bit. He shifts his hand to take Vasquez', interlocking his fingers with hers. "Maybe." he admits with a shrug, studying their hands before finally meeting her gaze once more. "Maybe not. I don't know. But I trust her not to make that mistake. I think she's earned that much." Again, there's no malice. No anger. It would be hypocritical for him to be angry at her. After all, he had
Vasquez ' expression cools and she pulls her hand back, turning away from Jason to look out across the room. "It's not about what she's earned. It's about acknowledging reality. I won't ignore how reckless they're being just because I know them."
Jason furrows his brows, a flash of confusion settling in as his hand comes to rest on her leg once more. "That doesn't sound like 'acknowledging reality' to me. It sounds like ignoring everything you know about both of them to reach some conclusion that you don't need to reach. I don't understand why you're so sure this only ends one way."
Vasquez ' face twitches, and her gaze falls to the hand on her leg. Metal joints and polymer tissue. "It's delusional to think that it'll magically work out, that no one will get hurt, just because they care about each other. That's not how it works."
Jason studies Vasquez for a moment, the way her gaze lingers on his prosthetics. His words catch in his throat, amounting to little more than a lump that won't quite come out. "...You know I'm happy, right?" he eventually asks, his tone softening.
Vasquez turns her head to look at Jason, although her gaze bounces off quickly at first. "Yeah. Yeah, I know," she insists before meeting his gaze again. She shifts uncomfortably, the question having honed in all too keenly on nerves that have been left rawer than usual today.
Jason holds her gaze. "Look, I-..." he stammers, gaze briefly tilting to the side as he tries to sort through his thoughts. "I know it hasn't always been easy." he continues, blue eyes meeting hers, "And-... and there've been speedbumps along the way." a heavy smile tugs at his lips, well aware that might be the understatement of the century. His hand moves to her thigh and he gives it a playful squeeze. "But it was all worth it,
okay? You are worth it. And-... I can only hope that you feel the same way, but I know I sure as hell wouldn't trade what we have for anything. Anything."
Vasquez lets out a long breath and nods, gaze falling temporarily. When her eyes return to Jason, her left hand lifts to the side of his face, pulling him for a kiss as her right finds the hand on her thigh, resting atop it. "Me neither," she says quietly, lingering close, leaning her forehead against his, eyes open and watching him.
Jason falls quiet, merely enjoying the closeness for a while. Eventually his free hand moves to her cheek, pulling her back in for another kiss, this time remaining in it a bit longer. When he finally pulls back there's a small, heavy smile on his lips. "We're gonna be fine." he says softly. Sure, he can't possibly know that. Given their lives, they've probably got a few more of those speedbumps in their future. But it's not about
that. It's a promise that he's gonna do everything in his power to make damn sure that whatever might come, they'll weather it. "Our baby is gonna be fine. Not because things are gonna 'magically work out'." he acknowledges, "But because we're willing to put in the work and make things work out. I just-..." he swallows, giving a somewhat sheepish shrug as he continues to linger close, absently finding himself pressing
another quick kiss against his wife's lips where his eyes keep lingering, "...think they deserve the chance to find the same happiness we have. Even if it doesn't come easy."
Vasquez closes her eyes and listens, a quiet sigh slipping out, felt against Jason's lips more than it's heard. Her response doesn't come right away, sitting in silence with her husband's words for a moment. "It's not that I don't want them to be happy..." she starts. "I just-... what if it goes wrong? It's not just the two of them at risk. It's everyone around them too." Her eyes have opened, and she's pulled back just a little
Jason offers a quiet, "I know" as she begins, well aware that it was never about just raining on their friends' parade. "Then we'll deal with that, too." he says. "I trust Ilyna. I know her. It won't come to that. It won't. Ever." he says, trying to make it perfectly clear that it's something he believes. Not just idle trust. Not just misplaced faith born out of little more than their friendship. He knows, with every fiber of
his being, that Ilyna is worthy of that trust. She's earned it, time and time again. She's been there, for both of them, every time they've been knocked down, willing to put her own life on the line to help pick them up. It's more than a battlefield bond. It's the person that she's shown herself to be. There's no doubt behind his eyes. But... "But if it ever does. We will deal with it." he reiterates. There's no doubt
there, either. "Like we deal with everything. But that doesn't mean we start sabotaging everything in our lives and the lives of the people we care about because we're afraid things might go south. Right?"
Vasquez ' gaze remains fixed on Jason's, seeing the certainty there. The depth of that belief. She trusts that conviction. More than she trusts her own thoughts. She wouldn't be here today otherwise "I-..." She swallows. "Right." A nod. Another. "Yeah. Yeah. Okay." Her arms shift to wrap around Jason, enveloping him in a firm hug.
Jason releases a breath, his arm slipping around her waist and pulling her in close. He doesn't seem to be in any rush to let go.
Vasquez presses a kiss just below Jason's ear, mumbling a quiet "Thank you..." before holding him tighter, seeming in no more of a rush herself.
Vasquez ' left hand rises to run her fingertips over the short hair at the back of Jason's head. She doesn't answer right away, searching for the right words. For understanding. For believing. For talking her down. Not letting it turn into an argument. "For... being you," she settles for, the faintest hint of a chuckle lacing her words, the corner of her mouth twitching briefly up as she pulls back to look at him.
Jason gives a small snicker, lopsided grin on his face as he offers her a shrug. "Well, lucky for you it happens to be one of the few things I'm pretty good at." he jokes. For a moment he just studies her, one hand coming to rest on the side of the bench, before casting a quick glance out over the gym. "Whaddya say to a post-workout shower?" he offers through a smirk before quickly wiping his smirk away with a shake of his head
and a wave of his hand, dismissing the possibility that there's any untoward motivation behind the offer. "Just for convenience sake, ya know? I just got back from a run, you seem to be wrapping up your workout. Absolutely nothing to do with how your ass looks in those shorts." he assures.
Vasquez ' fleeting smile turns into a grin, a warm laugh slipping out. She leans in for another kiss before standing up. "Read my mind," she replies before tugging Jason to his feet.