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Description
Ash did Marie the favor of not vomiting in her immaculate car and she did him the favor of driving him home instead of shoving him out of the car in mid-air for ruining the interior. Ash's home was humble and by no means opulent but it was definitely better than most of the residential sectors on this tier of Espher. Ash's salary covered everything well and gave him enough money to spend most nights getting shit-faced. As the Nexus W-X came to a quiet, delicate rest on its landing struts, Ash turned to look at Marie while using pure will to force down the nausea.

"I... this was a hell of a night. Thanks... I needed--" Ash began but his lips were assaulted by her own for a brief, blissful moment. He presumed she was rolling the dice on his nausea, getting a kiss in before anything came out. He was struck by it, however, and lost his train of thought. "You..."
"Kissed you..." She replied, mimicking his tone perfectly.
"Hell of a night. I.. wish I weren't drunk so I could be a bit more... coherent. Yea, that's the word."
"You're fine. If nothing else, being in this state shows who you are at heart. You really broke free tonight, it was wonderful."
Ash tilted his head "I what?"
"Broke free. You had fun, you stopped moping, you lived in the moment and being able to help you achieve that is great." She replied, turning in her seat, slightly.
"You saw all that -and- drove through all that crazy shit?"
"I have my skills, cherub."
"I'm wondering how much of an understatement that is."
"Don't be like that. I just happened to have a sequence of events to showcase my abilities, tonight."
Ash sighed and shrugged "I don't question good fortune. I was just surprised."
"Can you make the walk?"
"Yea, no problem." Ash said, looking outside the car for the first time. Inside, it was so easy to forget everything that was not a part of her.

"Can I at least make sure you don't fall and hurt yourself, Ash?" Marie asked, keying a console which brought the engine to a slow stop and the struts creaked just a bit as the repulsordirve shut off.
"My place is kind of a wreck." Ash warned, looking at her uncertainly.
"You should see -mine-."
"I'm not going to pass up a chance to bring a celebrity into my home. Maybe they'll make some kind of tour where they make a big deal about how you helped some drunken idiot home out of the kindness of your heart. Big to-do and everything, selling some cheap alcohol as a souvenir and explai--"
"Ash. Hush. Let's get you inside instead of waking all of your neighbors, all right?"
"Fair point." Ash muttered, turning as the door began to move and stepping out of the car with only one small stagger.

The doors on the car sealed and there was a faint beep to indicate the security system on the car had been enabled. Marie helped Ash to his home twice, the first had been just a door too far. After returning to his actual home she guided him in to sit on a worn-out couch. She shut, and locked, the door behind her and turned around, smiling.

Ash was sprawled out on the couch, looking at her with no attempt to disguise it. She was the kind of beautiful you got angry over, so much frustration building in knowing that someone so beautiful would never be a part of your life and that is where his thoughts lingered. Surely she was stringing him along, there had to be some reason. She walked casually across the room and took a gentle seat next to him, turning to look him over. She smiled that warm, disarming smile and if it were possible, Ash would've melted in the heat.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked, placing her hand on his.
"Yea, better, just... trying to settle down." Ash replied, turning to look at her more directly.
"Good. I don't want to watch you ruin your carpet.... any further." She said, smirking as he was sprawled there and pretty much defenseless. "Do you have anything to drink?"
Ash nearly heaved, alcohol wasn't what he wanted to think about right now. "Kitchen, kitchen. Third cabinet from the left."
There was a pause and a whistle "Wow, you sure do bring a lot of your hobby home with you." she called out from the other room.
Ash smiled, furrowing his brows "Yea, been... kinda rough lately. Some really frustrating things."
"Oooh? Are we reaching 'classified' levels of detail, here?" She called out, glass tinkling lightly amid her words.
"No, not really... It's not really so classified as it is... just... gone." he said, closing his eyes and reliving the moments all over again. CO Green shouting in his ear, the weight of the rifle in his hands, how completely out of place he felt.
"Not surprising, honestly." Marie said, stepping into the living room once more and gently slipping around his legs with a subtle grace.
"There's a lot of things they don't show. Bad for the morale of the people of Espher."
"I've seen it happen. Friends I had that just... disappeared and never existed so far as any record is concerned."
"That's why I stay out of politics, I don't want to be a part of that kind of thing. It's childish as hell and I can't stand that."
Marie poured a bit of some amber colored liquor into a small glass and brought it up to her lips "Tell me about it, if you want to get it off your chest."
"It's just... Things are obviously changing. We were taken off reserve and sent to O-S-Zero-Five to find and confiscate and and all firearms or similar weapons. Half-way there it suddenly changed into 'Kill them all, don't ask why'."
Marie's eyebrows raised as she took a small drink. "That's... a big change of plans."
"And we were stuck with it. I... I'm not even 'off duty' right now, I'm on forced leave. There were orders I refused to follow and they slammed me the moment I got back."
"When was this?"
"About three days ago."

"If I may ask, Ash, what orders were you refusing?" Marie inquired, tilting her head.
"I was being ordered to shoot a kid. Probably twelve or something, grew up out in the settlements, never knew a life without guns on hand for defense. We come in firing rockets and air-strafing his home, who the fuck isn't going to grab their gun and fight?"
"So they wanted you to kill him for defending himself?"
"No... he killed at least one of our eight-man squad. That was why they wanted him dead but... it was our fault. No one -ever- gave us a reason why the mission changed."
"So you just didn't feel he did anything wrong?"
"I... no, I knew those guys, all the ones we lost, but we didn't even say anything, we just came in and started blasting the place all to hell."
"Sounds awful..."
"I'll spare you the details and just say that Espher never gives the whole story, just enough to justify their actions or remove doubt. There's thousands of things I've noticed over the years that escape mention and there's no explanation other than someone actively filtering what is made public... but I think all governments do that."
"You're right. They all do. I don't think there has ever been a government that gave the people the whole story."
"I'm just sick of pretending not to notice it. Some people can look it over, some people just don't ask questions and they can just be fine with that-- I can't. It aggravates me to the damned bone."
"Calm down, Cherub, just try and relax." she cooed softly in his ear.

Ash had somehow managed to miss the way she shifted her slight form against him and leaned over to partially lay along his side as he slouched slightly. There were all sorts of things buzzing in his head right now and the feel of her against him was not the least of them. Slowly his arm curled around her shoulders and she exhaled against his neck, laying her head there and reaching across to set her drink upon the table. If he could open his eyes he would be seeing what he would presume to be a dream but it was actually happening. What was so appealing about him? Did she just go for the kind of person who feels broken and use their misery as a sort of muse? Did she genuinely care this much about someone she met less then twelve hours ago?

He had so many questions and so little nerve to ask them. Slowly he let his eyes open and behold her. Her hair was a wash of deep red spread across their bodies, her arms running from her tee-shirt up and around his neck where he could feel her nails gently bite at his flesh. She had ditched her boots somewhere and had her lower half tucked neatly against her in her slim denim jeans and thin black socks. He pondered what the material was, it looked like silk from his view, and was then struck wondering why he was thinking about that at all.

"Ash..." Marie began, turning her head upward to whisper on his jaw.
"Yeah?" he responded, half-groggy but fully focused on her.
"Do you mind if I--"
"Not at all."
Marie smiled a bit "You didn't know what I was going to ask."
"I think I had a good idea."
"Maybe."
"Just be quiet and come here." Ash said, turning slightly to pull her body onto his own as he slipped down to lay on his back.

Marie's slight build was even more apparent in this way, her arms around his neck and her head tucked into the nape of his neck. Her legs had tangled into his own, Ash sighed with plain, simple content. His hands moved down her back slowly, fingers tracing along her spine before resting on her lower-back. One arm curled around her possessively and kept her held snug and he turned his head to press his lips to her hairline, closing his eyes. It was quiet, it was never this quiet when he was home. The was no racket from the television pane, no food cooking or declaring it had been long-since ready to be eaten.

He could hear every breath she took and he was unsure if he could hear her heartbeat or if he was just imagining it but in this moment there was a quiet, still world that did not exist anywhere else in his life. As if his home had simply been removed from the world, it was just as it was in the car. Nothing existed outside of her and the room they shared. Ironically they were much closer when they had so much more room to spread out. Ash tried to find the words to say some appropriately pretty or meaningful or... something poignant at all only to find nothing coming to mind. Just the same, he could feel sleep overtaking him and he begrudgingly accepted it as it creeped over him and pulled him into the abyss of slumber.

The light of day broke through the windows, washing over the bed. Ash surfaced slowly toward consciousness and opened his eyes-- he immediately regretted it. Wincing, Ash turned his head from the window to find his cheek press against the skin of another. Slowly opening his eyes, Ash leaned his head back to look down at her. Her skin was washed out with the light from the windows upon it and he moved his head just enough to block the light. Looking over her features he was once more astounded by the sheer beauty of her. He was struck by it fairly often but it was always so strong when it hit-- and now he was actually sober and being struck with it.

She rested silently, apparently having curled up with him at some point in the night, her arm laying lazily across his torso beneath the blankets. Her eyes were closed but he could see they they were not moving about in REM sleep. Her body gently rose and fell with her breathing and he curiously followed her hair. There was such a length to it, how did she manage not to strangle herself in her sleep? He realized, with a bit of a grin, that the solution was fairly simple. She had, apparently, wound her hair around her pillow with a bit of slack to allow her head to move freely. Slowly he brought his hand up to her face and delicately traced her jawline as if she might just be some hallucination or what he remembered of last night was some sort of drunken escapade that he misremembered. The tip of his thumb gently brushed her lower lip and he smiled without realizing it. It had been a long time since he had felt this kind of happiness.

Suddenly it all caught up to Ash, they had somehow gone from the living room couch to his bed. He could not remember a bit of it and that was very very frustrating-- and unfair, as far as he was concerned. Lifting the blankets he glanced down to realize she had apparently worn nothing to bed. Now he was just starting to hate whatever part of his brain wasn't sharing the details of just why she was naked and in his bed, blue-balled by his own damned brain. Still, he could at least admire her form from top to bottom. Just as slight as he imagined, her breasts perfectly placed upon her chest, he was hypnotized, thoughts running wild. He still could not will the memories from his brain's lockbox of memories.

"Staring isn't very polite, you know." Marie's voice moved through his ears, a slight vibrato within it.
"I don't know if I'm strong enough to look away." Ash replied, his head tilting toward her but his eyes remaining on her form.
"I suppose it's nothing you would not have seen last night."
"Wait, did we?" he asked, his eyes breaking away and moving up to her own, yet again struck by how green her eyes were.
"What?"
"I mean, you're naked, we're in my bed, and I sure as hell don't remem--" Ash spoke but Marie cut him off.
"Oh, for hours. You don't remember any of it?" she said, looking into his own eyes. She was so sincere about the fact.
"What the hell... wh-- Agh! No, not a damn bit."
"Oh it was the best night of my life, it was non-stop, orgasm after orgasm."
"Okay, now you're fucking with me."

It took a moment but Marie's expression finally broke and she laughed, reaching out and pulling him to her and laughing in his ear as she moved to kiss his cheek. She held onto him tightly, as she choked down her laughter to try and be a bit considerate. Ash shook his head. "Do you know how much I wanted to kick the shit out of my own brain for not letting me remember something like that?" Ash inquired, his expression slightly upset.
Marie chuckled and shook her head "Easy, Cherub, I was just teasing you."
The way she spoke made it impossible to keep up any hit of offense and he broke into a laugh. "I know, I know..."
"The look on your face, you should have seen it. I would pay money to see--"
"I get it, I get it. You got your fun out of me." he spoke, leaning his head forward to press his forehead to her own.
"Tell me it's not funny." she dared.
"I... yea, it's... it's pretty funny." he said, chuckling lightly.
"You were a perfect gentleman."
"I can't imagine it was easy to get me in here."
"I didn't say it was easy, just that you were very gentlemanly while you fell down. Twice."
"Shit, did I break anything?"
"I don't remember, I was a bit trashed myself."
"So why are you in my bed, naked?" Ash inquired.
"This is how I sleep. You said it was okay if I slept here." Marie answered.
"You really are just... beautiful, everything about you."
Marie smiled with warmth unbridled, "Thank you, Cherub. You're not so bad, yourself."

Ash took that moment to close the gap between them, as small as it was, and mashed his lips into her own. She gave a brief sound of surprise but quickly pressed back into the kiss and curled her arms tightly around his neck. The kiss lasted a good while before he broke away and moved his lips to her neck. One of her hands slipped through is hair and he sighed softly, content once more. If only his life could stay like this, if he had Marie to come home to, he could love being alive more than wondering why anyone pitied the dead. His arms wrapped around her and he closed his eyes, tugging the blankets up a bit awkwardly with his hand that could reach them. He wished this moment could last forever but knew, as much as anyone, that the best things in life are fleeting and gone all too quick.

"Stay for at least a few hours more?" Ash asked, speaking against her neck.
"There's nowhere I'd rather be right now." Marie responded and closed her eyes.

For a while, they were coiled together in the warm wash of light and heat of flesh, the smell of her skin permeated the air and Ash could never have enough time to enjoy it. Then the chirp of Ash's phone broke the silence. "Are you fucking kidding?," Ash muttered, uncurling and arm and rolling onto his back to grasp at the nightstand. Wrapping his fingers around grooves in the ergonomic rectangular device, Ash brought it up in front of his face and tried to squint and focus enough to read it as his thumb pushed onto a recessed control stick. The side of the phone swinging out into a fan-like shape, the collapsible panes adjusting so that they were all flush and the display came to life. The number was absent, it was simply marked "Espher Police/Defense Communications" in scrolling cyan text. With a heavy sigh and a slight shift away from Marie. Groaning quietly he turned his head away from Marie, as to not disturb her, before pulling the thin earpiece from the bottom of the phone. Placing it in his ear, Ash then used his thumb to key the answer button displayed on the pane. There was a brief click and the voice on the phone was quite depressing.

"Officer Scarborough." the voice was distinct, it was one of the sour types that he recalled from the last time he had attended a sector meeting.
"You're speaking to him." Ash replied, his voice clearly irritated.
"Officer Scarborough you are required to report to your sector chief for review of your recent misconduct in the search and retrieve operation in Outlying Settlement Zero Five."
"No shit..." Ash grumbled, his brows furrowing.
"Come again, Officer?" the voice asked, although he has clearly heard the reply.
"I said I'm on it. I'll be there in--"
"You have twenty minutes, Officer."
"Understood." Ash said, disconnecting the call and thumbing a stud that folded the panes back into the phone.
"Doesn't sound like a happy call, Cherub." Marie murmured in a sleepy voice as she turned over and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his stomach.
"No, not really." Ash replied, his tone sullen.
"Don't let it stress you, don't give it so much power over you. You did the right thing, don't forget that."
"I... yeah, I know but doing the right thing can fuck you. A lot."
"But it lets you sleep at night."
"So does alcohol." he countered.
"It lets you sleep -next to me- at night." Marie intoned, looking up at him with her eyebrows arched.
"Point." Ash said, smiling slightly as he looked down at her and slipped fingers into her hair. Impossibly soft and delicate while remaining strong and not breaking. Ash figured that she had taken some kind of item she endorsed for Genetic Cosmetics, maybe some sort of injection or slow release implant somewhere beneath her tender skin, expertly hidden amidst all of it he had seen so far. He wondered just how much of their products she used as a part of modeling for the company. Foggy memories of the night before reminding him of two large advertisement-panes she had driven past and pointed out to him at his request.

It was hard to remember it clearly but the more memorable one featured her, and all that hair, walking amidst an immaculate white room toward an open window. She was clad in something gossamer and it was just as white as the room, save where her flesh darkened it ever so slightly. It was akin to some vast amount of fabric wrapped around her, trailing across the floor behind her barefoot steps. The window opened to a beautiful blue sky, spotted with clouds-- a sky he had rarely ever seen in his life in Espher-- and she stepped out upon a balcony set with expensive stonework creating the railing. The camera moved closer and then whisper close along the side of her head before it turned around to look upon her face.

The garment didn't really hide much of her chest, the fabric betraying the coloration of her nipples just slightly. Her lips parted in a broad, beautiful smile and he teeth were just as white as the room behind her. A slow fade of the logo for Genetic Cosmetics faded in and her hair waved in some mild breeze before the image became static for five seconds or so. In his recollection he suddenly remembered, very clearly, how striking her eyes were on such a vast advert-pane that made them as large as the wheels upon his patrol vehicle. Nothing about them looked fake but he was sure people would argue about color adjustments and general toying with footage before it was released. He had only noticed that they had hidden one very minor blemish upon her shoulder, looking back after having seen her nude. He hadn't any idea what the hell was being advertised but he was pretty sure he would buy it anyway.

"See something you like?" Marie said, shattering the memory and returning him to reality.
Ash had been staring at her body, his eyes snapping up to her own. "Sorry, I was just remembering last night, that ad-pane of you in the white... dress-thing."
"Ahh, they did that one most recently... It was-- Oh, shit, you need to get going." She suddenly recalled.
"Urgh. Yea... I'm not sure if they're going to put me back on duty or if it's just going to be some bullshit exercise where I do my best to let the sector chief scream at me for hours."
"You did nothing wrong, Cherub, remember that."
"Yea, yea... Will you be here when I get back, Marie?" Ash inquired as he moved to his closet and looked through it.
"No. I am sure my phone is full of things I need to take care of. Left it in the car last night because I didn't want to deal with it." she spoke, watching him with a mild hint of sadness.
"If only you could do that kind of thing forever, right?" Ash mused, pulling a shirt and some slacks from the closet.

Ash began to undress and was struck by the absurdity that he was reluctant to do so. It felt a bit vulgar but she had slept with him all night without a shred of clothing. With a mental shrug, Ash began to peel off the undershirt from the night before and step out of his boxers. Marie made it as uncomfortable as she could, whistling at him and generally giving him a hard time until he began to slip into his clean clothing. He still smelled of alcohol but they didn't exactly give him time to wash up, they could just deal with it as far as it concerned him. Ash looked Marie over with a soft expression as she sat, leaning against the headboard, with the blankets pooling around her hips. Her hair had long-since escaped the spool of the pillow and the the reminder of having found her hair wrapped around that pillow made him chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Marie asked, one thin brow raising upward.
"I was just thinking about how you keep your hair at night. It just amuses me." Ash replied, finishing the last button on his shirt.
"Well, I don't want to strangle myself in my slee--" Marie spoke, suddenly interrupted by Ash as he dove onto the bed on hands and knees and moved to close the distance between them. She giggled and nearly gave out a squeal in her surprise but it was quickly stifled by a firm, hungry kiss. She melted into it and laced her arms around his neck which prompted his arms to wrap around her torso and pull her in close. It lasted for quite a while but it was, unfortunately, still all too short for Ash. He had gone from the rock bottom of depression to, what seemed to him, the most wonderful time of his life. Marie was invigorating and inspiring in all the best ways and it was inescapable. "Easy, Cherub, you have my number. I'm not going to disappear."
"I'll call you after I get done with the whole... thing where I get bitched at for hours. Sound good?"
"It does."
"All right, I have to go now, the door will lock itself, stay as long as you like, there's some decent food in the--"
"Get out of here, already, they're going to skewer you for being late enough as it is."
"I'm gone, I'm gone."

Description
Ash did Marie the favor of not vomiting in her immaculate car and she did him the favor of driving him home instead of shoving him out of the car in mid-air for ruining the interior. Ash's home was humble and by no means opulent but it was definitely better than most of the residential sectors on this tier of Espher. Ash's salary covered everything well and gave him enough money to spend most nights getting shit-faced. As the Nexus W-X came to a quiet, delicate rest on its landing struts, Ash turned to look at Marie while using pure will to force down the nausea.

"I... this was a hell of a night. Thanks... I needed--" Ash began but his lips were assaulted by her own for a brief, blissful moment. He presumed she was rolling the dice on his nausea, getting a kiss in before anything came out. He was struck by it, however, and lost his train of thought. "You..."
"Kissed you..." She replied, mimicking his tone perfectly.
"Hell of a night. I.. wish I weren't drunk so I could be a bit more... coherent. Yea, that's the word."
"You're fine. If nothing else, being in this state shows who you are at heart. You really broke free tonight, it was wonderful."
Ash tilted his head "I what?"
"Broke free. You had fun, you stopped moping, you lived in the moment and being able to help you achieve that is great." She replied, turning in her seat, slightly.
"You saw all that -and- drove through all that crazy shit?"
"I have my skills, cherub."
"I'm wondering how much of an understatement that is."
"Don't be like that. I just happened to have a sequence of events to showcase my abilities, tonight."
Ash sighed and shrugged "I don't question good fortune. I was just surprised."
"Can you make the walk?"
"Yea, no problem." Ash said, looking outside the car for the first time. Inside, it was so easy to forget everything that was not a part of her.

"Can I at least make sure you don't fall and hurt yourself, Ash?" Marie asked, keying a console which brought the engine to a slow stop and the struts creaked just a bit as the repulsordirve shut off.
"My place is kind of a wreck." Ash warned, looking at her uncertainly.
"You should see -mine-."
"I'm not going to pass up a chance to bring a celebrity into my home. Maybe they'll make some kind of tour where they make a big deal about how you helped some drunken idiot home out of the kindness of your heart. Big to-do and everything, selling some cheap alcohol as a souvenir and explai--"
"Ash. Hush. Let's get you inside instead of waking all of your neighbors, all right?"
"Fair point." Ash muttered, turning as the door began to move and stepping out of the car with only one small stagger.

The doors on the car sealed and there was a faint beep to indicate the security system on the car had been enabled. Marie helped Ash to his home twice, the first had been just a door too far. After returning to his actual home she guided him in to sit on a worn-out couch. She shut, and locked, the door behind her and turned around, smiling.

Ash was sprawled out on the couch, looking at her with no attempt to disguise it. She was the kind of beautiful you got angry over, so much frustration building in knowing that someone so beautiful would never be a part of your life and that is where his thoughts lingered. Surely she was stringing him along, there had to be some reason. She walked casually across the room and took a gentle seat next to him, turning to look him over. She smiled that warm, disarming smile and if it were possible, Ash would've melted in the heat.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked, placing her hand on his.
"Yea, better, just... trying to settle down." Ash replied, turning to look at her more directly.
"Good. I don't want to watch you ruin your carpet.... any further." She said, smirking as he was sprawled there and pretty much defenseless. "Do you have anything to drink?"
Ash nearly heaved, alcohol wasn't what he wanted to think about right now. "Kitchen, kitchen. Third cabinet from the left."
There was a pause and a whistle "Wow, you sure do bring a lot of your hobby home with you." she called out from the other room.
Ash smiled, furrowing his brows "Yea, been... kinda rough lately. Some really frustrating things."
"Oooh? Are we reaching 'classified' levels of detail, here?" She called out, glass tinkling lightly amid her words.
"No, not really... It's not really so classified as it is... just... gone." he said, closing his eyes and reliving the moments all over again. CO Green shouting in his ear, the weight of the rifle in his hands, how completely out of place he felt.
"Not surprising, honestly." Marie said, stepping into the living room once more and gently slipping around his legs with a subtle grace.
"There's a lot of things they don't show. Bad for the morale of the people of Espher."
"I've seen it happen. Friends I had that just... disappeared and never existed so far as any record is concerned."
"That's why I stay out of politics, I don't want to be a part of that kind of thing. It's childish as hell and I can't stand that."
Marie poured a bit of some amber colored liquor into a small glass and brought it up to her lips "Tell me about it, if you want to get it off your chest."
"It's just... Things are obviously changing. We were taken off reserve and sent to O-S-Zero-Five to find and confiscate and and all firearms or similar weapons. Half-way there it suddenly changed into 'Kill them all, don't ask why'."
Marie's eyebrows raised as she took a small drink. "That's... a big change of plans."
"And we were stuck with it. I... I'm not even 'off duty' right now, I'm on forced leave. There were orders I refused to follow and they slammed me the moment I got back."
"When was this?"
"About three days ago."

"If I may ask, Ash, what orders were you refusing?" Marie inquired, tilting her head.
"I was being ordered to shoot a kid. Probably twelve or something, grew up out in the settlements, never knew a life without guns on hand for defense. We come in firing rockets and air-strafing his home, who the fuck isn't going to grab their gun and fight?"
"So they wanted you to kill him for defending himself?"
"No... he killed at least one of our eight-man squad. That was why they wanted him dead but... it was our fault. No one -ever- gave us a reason why the mission changed."
"So you just didn't feel he did anything wrong?"
"I... no, I knew those guys, all the ones we lost, but we didn't even say anything, we just came in and started blasting the place all to hell."
"Sounds awful..."
"I'll spare you the details and just say that Espher never gives the whole story, just enough to justify their actions or remove doubt. There's thousands of things I've noticed over the years that escape mention and there's no explanation other than someone actively filtering what is made public... but I think all governments do that."
"You're right. They all do. I don't think there has ever been a government that gave the people the whole story."
"I'm just sick of pretending not to notice it. Some people can look it over, some people just don't ask questions and they can just be fine with that-- I can't. It aggravates me to the damned bone."
"Calm down, Cherub, just try and relax." she cooed softly in his ear.

Ash had somehow managed to miss the way she shifted her slight form against him and leaned over to partially lay along his side as he slouched slightly. There were all sorts of things buzzing in his head right now and the feel of her against him was not the least of them. Slowly his arm curled around her shoulders and she exhaled against his neck, laying her head there and reaching across to set her drink upon the table. If he could open his eyes he would be seeing what he would presume to be a dream but it was actually happening. What was so appealing about him? Did she just go for the kind of person who feels broken and use their misery as a sort of muse? Did she genuinely care this much about someone she met less then twelve hours ago?

He had so many questions and so little nerve to ask them. Slowly he let his eyes open and behold her. Her hair was a wash of deep red spread across their bodies, her arms running from her tee-shirt up and around his neck where he could feel her nails gently bite at his flesh. She had ditched her boots somewhere and had her lower half tucked neatly against her in her slim denim jeans and thin black socks. He pondered what the material was, it looked like silk from his view, and was then struck wondering why he was thinking about that at all.

"Ash..." Marie began, turning her head upward to whisper on his jaw.
"Yeah?" he responded, half-groggy but fully focused on her.
"Do you mind if I--"
"Not at all."
Marie smiled a bit "You didn't know what I was going to ask."
"I think I had a good idea."
"Maybe."
"Just be quiet and come here." Ash said, turning slightly to pull her body onto his own as he slipped down to lay on his back.

Marie's slight build was even more apparent in this way, her arms around his neck and her head tucked into the nape of his neck. Her legs had tangled into his own, Ash sighed with plain, simple content. His hands moved down her back slowly, fingers tracing along her spine before resting on her lower-back. One arm curled around her possessively and kept her held snug and he turned his head to press his lips to her hairline, closing his eyes. It was quiet, it was never this quiet when he was home. The was no racket from the television pane, no food cooking or declaring it had been long-since ready to be eaten.

He could hear every breath she took and he was unsure if he could hear her heartbeat or if he was just imagining it but in this moment there was a quiet, still world that did not exist anywhere else in his life. As if his home had simply been removed from the world, it was just as it was in the car. Nothing existed outside of her and the room they shared. Ironically they were much closer when they had so much more room to spread out. Ash tried to find the words to say some appropriately pretty or meaningful or... something poignant at all only to find nothing coming to mind. Just the same, he could feel sleep overtaking him and he begrudgingly accepted it as it creeped over him and pulled him into the abyss of slumber.

The light of day broke through the windows, washing over the bed. Ash surfaced slowly toward consciousness and opened his eyes-- he immediately regretted it. Wincing, Ash turned his head from the window to find his cheek press against the skin of another. Slowly opening his eyes, Ash leaned his head back to look down at her. Her skin was washed out with the light from the windows upon it and he moved his head just enough to block the light. Looking over her features he was once more astounded by the sheer beauty of her. He was struck by it fairly often but it was always so strong when it hit-- and now he was actually sober and being struck with it.

She rested silently, apparently having curled up with him at some point in the night, her arm laying lazily across his torso beneath the blankets. Her eyes were closed but he could see they they were not moving about in REM sleep. Her body gently rose and fell with her breathing and he curiously followed her hair. There was such a length to it, how did she manage not to strangle herself in her sleep? He realized, with a bit of a grin, that the solution was fairly simple. She had, apparently, wound her hair around her pillow with a bit of slack to allow her head to move freely. Slowly he brought his hand up to her face and delicately traced her jawline as if she might just be some hallucination or what he remembered of last night was some sort of drunken escapade that he misremembered. The tip of his thumb gently brushed her lower lip and he smiled without realizing it. It had been a long time since he had felt this kind of happiness.

Suddenly it all caught up to Ash, they had somehow gone from the living room couch to his bed. He could not remember a bit of it and that was very very frustrating-- and unfair, as far as he was concerned. Lifting the blankets he glanced down to realize she had apparently worn nothing to bed. Now he was just starting to hate whatever part of his brain wasn't sharing the details of just why she was naked and in his bed, blue-balled by his own damned brain. Still, he could at least admire her form from top to bottom. Just as slight as he imagined, her breasts perfectly placed upon her chest, he was hypnotized, thoughts running wild. He still could not will the memories from his brain's lockbox of memories.

"Staring isn't very polite, you know." Marie's voice moved through his ears, a slight vibrato within it.
"I don't know if I'm strong enough to look away." Ash replied, his head tilting toward her but his eyes remaining on her form.
"I suppose it's nothing you would not have seen last night."
"Wait, did we?" he asked, his eyes breaking away and moving up to her own, yet again struck by how green her eyes were.
"What?"
"I mean, you're naked, we're in my bed, and I sure as hell don't remem--" Ash spoke but Marie cut him off.
"Oh, for hours. You don't remember any of it?" she said, looking into his own eyes. She was so sincere about the fact.
"What the hell... wh-- Agh! No, not a damn bit."
"Oh it was the best night of my life, it was non-stop, orgasm after orgasm."
"Okay, now you're fucking with me."

It took a moment but Marie's expression finally broke and she laughed, reaching out and pulling him to her and laughing in his ear as she moved to kiss his cheek. She held onto him tightly, as she choked down her laughter to try and be a bit considerate. Ash shook his head. "Do you know how much I wanted to kick the shit out of my own brain for not letting me remember something like that?" Ash inquired, his expression slightly upset.
Marie chuckled and shook her head "Easy, Cherub, I was just teasing you."
The way she spoke made it impossible to keep up any hit of offense and he broke into a laugh. "I know, I know..."
"The look on your face, you should have seen it. I would pay money to see--"
"I get it, I get it. You got your fun out of me." he spoke, leaning his head forward to press his forehead to her own.
"Tell me it's not funny." she dared.
"I... yea, it's... it's pretty funny." he said, chuckling lightly.
"You were a perfect gentleman."
"I can't imagine it was easy to get me in here."
"I didn't say it was easy, just that you were very gentlemanly while you fell down. Twice."
"Shit, did I break anything?"
"I don't remember, I was a bit trashed myself."
"So why are you in my bed, naked?" Ash inquired.
"This is how I sleep. You said it was okay if I slept here." Marie answered.
"You really are just... beautiful, everything about you."
Marie smiled with warmth unbridled, "Thank you, Cherub. You're not so bad, yourself."

Ash took that moment to close the gap between them, as small as it was, and mashed his lips into her own. She gave a brief sound of surprise but quickly pressed back into the kiss and curled her arms tightly around his neck. The kiss lasted a good while before he broke away and moved his lips to her neck. One of her hands slipped through is hair and he sighed softly, content once more. If only his life could stay like this, if he had Marie to come home to, he could love being alive more than wondering why anyone pitied the dead. His arms wrapped around her and he closed his eyes, tugging the blankets up a bit awkwardly with his hand that could reach them. He wished this moment could last forever but knew, as much as anyone, that the best things in life are fleeting and gone all too quick.

"Stay for at least a few hours more?" Ash asked, speaking against her neck.
"There's nowhere I'd rather be right now." Marie responded and closed her eyes.

For a while, they were coiled together in the warm wash of light and heat of flesh, the smell of her skin permeated the air and Ash could never have enough time to enjoy it. Then the chirp of Ash's phone broke the silence. "Are you fucking kidding?," Ash muttered, uncurling and arm and rolling onto his back to grasp at the nightstand. Wrapping his fingers around grooves in the ergonomic rectangular device, Ash brought it up in front of his face and tried to squint and focus enough to read it as his thumb pushed onto a recessed control stick. The side of the phone swinging out into a fan-like shape, the collapsible panes adjusting so that they were all flush and the display came to life. The number was absent, it was simply marked "Espher Police/Defense Communications" in scrolling cyan text. With a heavy sigh and a slight shift away from Marie. Groaning quietly he turned his head away from Marie, as to not disturb her, before pulling the thin earpiece from the bottom of the phone. Placing it in his ear, Ash then used his thumb to key the answer button displayed on the pane. There was a brief click and the voice on the phone was quite depressing.

"Officer Scarborough." the voice was distinct, it was one of the sour types that he recalled from the last time he had attended a sector meeting.
"You're speaking to him." Ash replied, his voice clearly irritated.
"Officer Scarborough you are required to report to your sector chief for review of your recent misconduct in the search and retrieve operation in Outlying Settlement Zero Five."
"No shit..." Ash grumbled, his brows furrowing.
"Come again, Officer?" the voice asked, although he has clearly heard the reply.
"I said I'm on it. I'll be there in--"
"You have twenty minutes, Officer."
"Understood." Ash said, disconnecting the call and thumbing a stud that folded the panes back into the phone.
"Doesn't sound like a happy call, Cherub." Marie murmured in a sleepy voice as she turned over and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his stomach.
"No, not really." Ash replied, his tone sullen.
"Don't let it stress you, don't give it so much power over you. You did the right thing, don't forget that."
"I... yeah, I know but doing the right thing can fuck you. A lot."
"But it lets you sleep at night."
"So does alcohol." he countered.
"It lets you sleep -next to me- at night." Marie intoned, looking up at him with her eyebrows arched.
"Point." Ash said, smiling slightly as he looked down at her and slipped fingers into her hair. Impossibly soft and delicate while remaining strong and not breaking. Ash figured that she had taken some kind of item she endorsed for Genetic Cosmetics, maybe some sort of injection or slow release implant somewhere beneath her tender skin, expertly hidden amidst all of it he had seen so far. He wondered just how much of their products she used as a part of modeling for the company. Foggy memories of the night before reminding him of two large advertisement-panes she had driven past and pointed out to him at his request.

It was hard to remember it clearly but the more memorable one featured her, and all that hair, walking amidst an immaculate white room toward an open window. She was clad in something gossamer and it was just as white as the room, save where her flesh darkened it ever so slightly. It was akin to some vast amount of fabric wrapped around her, trailing across the floor behind her barefoot steps. The window opened to a beautiful blue sky, spotted with clouds-- a sky he had rarely ever seen in his life in Espher-- and she stepped out upon a balcony set with expensive stonework creating the railing. The camera moved closer and then whisper close along the side of her head before it turned around to look upon her face.

The garment didn't really hide much of her chest, the fabric betraying the coloration of her nipples just slightly. Her lips parted in a broad, beautiful smile and he teeth were just as white as the room behind her. A slow fade of the logo for Genetic Cosmetics faded in and her hair waved in some mild breeze before the image became static for five seconds or so. In his recollection he suddenly remembered, very clearly, how striking her eyes were on such a vast advert-pane that made them as large as the wheels upon his patrol vehicle. Nothing about them looked fake but he was sure people would argue about color adjustments and general toying with footage before it was released. He had only noticed that they had hidden one very minor blemish upon her shoulder, looking back after having seen her nude. He hadn't any idea what the hell was being advertised but he was pretty sure he would buy it anyway.

"See something you like?" Marie said, shattering the memory and returning him to reality.
Ash had been staring at her body, his eyes snapping up to her own. "Sorry, I was just remembering last night, that ad-pane of you in the white... dress-thing."
"Ahh, they did that one most recently... It was-- Oh, shit, you need to get going." She suddenly recalled.
"Urgh. Yea... I'm not sure if they're going to put me back on duty or if it's just going to be some bullshit exercise where I do my best to let the sector chief scream at me for hours."
"You did nothing wrong, Cherub, remember that."
"Yea, yea... Will you be here when I get back, Marie?" Ash inquired as he moved to his closet and looked through it.
"No. I am sure my phone is full of things I need to take care of. Left it in the car last night because I didn't want to deal with it." she spoke, watching him with a mild hint of sadness.
"If only you could do that kind of thing forever, right?" Ash mused, pulling a shirt and some slacks from the closet.

Ash began to undress and was struck by the absurdity that he was reluctant to do so. It felt a bit vulgar but she had slept with him all night without a shred of clothing. With a mental shrug, Ash began to peel off the undershirt from the night before and step out of his boxers. Marie made it as uncomfortable as she could, whistling at him and generally giving him a hard time until he began to slip into his clean clothing. He still smelled of alcohol but they didn't exactly give him time to wash up, they could just deal with it as far as it concerned him. Ash looked Marie over with a soft expression as she sat, leaning against the headboard, with the blankets pooling around her hips. Her hair had long-since escaped the spool of the pillow and the the reminder of having found her hair wrapped around that pillow made him chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Marie asked, one thin brow raising upward.
"I was just thinking about how you keep your hair at night. It just amuses me." Ash replied, finishing the last button on his shirt.
"Well, I don't want to strangle myself in my slee--" Marie spoke, suddenly interrupted by Ash as he dove onto the bed on hands and knees and moved to close the distance between them. She giggled and nearly gave out a squeal in her surprise but it was quickly stifled by a firm, hungry kiss. She melted into it and laced her arms around his neck which prompted his arms to wrap around her torso and pull her in close. It lasted for quite a while but it was, unfortunately, still all too short for Ash. He had gone from the rock bottom of depression to, what seemed to him, the most wonderful time of his life. Marie was invigorating and inspiring in all the best ways and it was inescapable. "Easy, Cherub, you have my number. I'm not going to disappear."
"I'll call you after I get done with the whole... thing where I get bitched at for hours. Sound good?"
"It does."
"All right, I have to go now, the door will lock itself, stay as long as you like, there's some decent food in the--"
"Get out of here, already, they're going to skewer you for being late enough as it is."
"I'm gone, I'm gone."