2285, UNPC universal calendar, installation 038, American midwest.

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this one is pretty short, but I don't hate how it reads, figure I'll keep it.

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"hey honey, wake up, you need to see this" Kate said, shaking Anton awake as he laid sleeping in their bed.

"what's up" he asked, sitting up in the bed, and seeing her usually cheery blue eyes red and puffy.

"look" she said, handing him the tablet.

"oh god" he said after reading for a few moments.

She took his hand. "I'm sorry, I know you loved them"

Anton stared off into space for a long moment, Kate moved over to him and hugged him as he processed the entire thing.

The Vorhut, the sister ship to the Schattenwulf, the same in every way, was gone, sunk at the bottom of the ocean just off Hawaii.

Four of his coworkers, who he'd spent over two hundred years with, his friends, who he'd fought alongside, were gone, dead in a megaton level explosion when one of the reactors malfunctioned, and the Schattenwulf was immediately shut down, and pending repairs to ensure nothing of the sort happens to the ship of the same design.

"I should write something to their family, at least their descendants or something" Anton said, hugging Kate as she laid in his arms, crying softly.

"I think Anna had two kids, they must be middle aged by now" Kate said, wiping a tear off of her upper chest, sniffling.

"I'll start with them then" Anton said, nodding. "Do you want to sit with me while I write them?" he asked.

Kate nodded "that would be nice"

They hugged each other for a moment, and Anton tapped her side twice.

"not going to get written just sitting here pouting" he said, trying to smile and succeeding in making Kate giggle through her tears.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"but first, coffee" he said, standing up and moving over to the counter, where the coffee maker was, and starting a pot.

"dammit Anna" Kate sobbed as she sat on the foot of the bed.

"I know honey" he said, walking up to her, sitting down and hugging her, her face in his chest as he shushed her.

"you're gonna be okay" Anton said, rubbing her back and kissing her forehead.

They sat like that for a long moment, only the sounds of Kate's soft cries and the coffee maker's gurgling filling their room, the cool air from the open window in the middle wall of the room blowing over them.

"the last time I saw her was when we bumped into each other in the mess hall at oh-three-eight" Kate sobbed.

"She will live on in our hearts" Anton said, motioning for her to get up. "We can start by telling her children how great of a person she was" Anton said, pulling Kate up and into a hug as they stood near the foot of the bed.

"I never knew a better medic" Kate said, pulling herself against Anton.

"come on, let's sit down and drink some coffee, talk about it" Anton said, pouring the full Carafe of coffee into two cups, then the vacuum insulated one, and carrying them each to the table.

"sit down honey" he said, leaning back in the chair, making it creak under his weight.

She sat down on his lap, and put her shoulder into the middle of his chest, and he wrapped his left arm around her, leaving his right arm free.

He sat staring at the paper, his uncapped pen in his right hand for a long time, but finding that he didn't know how to start, or even what to write.

he sighed, and capped his pen, then scrubbed his face with his right hand, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"damn you Makayla" he sighed, a tear falling from his cheeks.

They sat crying, holding each other for a long time, long enough for the sun to go down, and the shadows outside the open window to get a little thicker, and the breeze colder.

"we're two battle hardened augments over here crying our damn eyes out" Anton chuckled through his tears, making Kate giggle and sniffle.

"you want to just hold each other and sleep?" Kate asked.

he nodded.

"worst part is I let my cup of coffee get cold" he said, looking at his plain white cup still full of now cold coffee.

"I did too honey" Kate said, looking at her own. "it'll be okay, let's get in bed, you've still got bags under your eyes"

"yeah" he said, not replying to anything, just stating it.

They climbed in bed, and laid face to face, holding each other.

"Weren't Makayla and Terror together?" Anton asked, using Tim "B1" Wright's nickname, not at all offensively.

"Yeah, I'm sure he's pretty shaken up" Kate said, squirming to get comfortable.

"verdammt, I feel bad for the guy, I heard they were close" Anton said, running his right hand through her long hair, which she hadn't bothered to braid.

"yeah" Kate said, closing her eyes and relishing the feeling of him playing with her hair.

"I'm gonna miss them" Anton said, rubbing her right cheek with the back of his hand before laying his palm flat against the side of her head, below her ear.

Kate nodded, "me too" she said, holding his hand against her face with her left, holding his at the wrist.

"sleep honey" Kate said, rubbing her thumb against his wrist.

Damn my father for not designing that ship right.