#sailingtempest ✧ jaal ama darav.

[serabellyms]

" are... are these good tears? or bad tears? "     ⤷ @sailingtempest ✧ jaal ama darav.

It'd been a long few days. She'd rushed back to the Hyperion when a message about her brother came through, immediately needing to know. He was awake, at least; still recovering, but recovering was much better than still in a coma. After losing their father, Scott was all she had left; she couldn't lose him too, not with how things were going. She needed something. But even after learning that, it was a lot to take in. There was so much she needed to tell him, so much she owed him, and well... That was even harder to comprehend. She'd hoped for a little bit of alone time on the Tempest, at the very least; everyone else should have been out for their shore leave on the Nexus.

“Huh?” Oh, hell. She’d been caught? And by Jaal, of all people. The last person she could probably mask from. He’d talked about how the angara were more… open, and honest with their feelings. It was something Gabby wished she’d grown up with. Sure, her mom was like that, but not her dad. He’d been all work, work, work—something she’d had to adopt even in the military. But the news about Scott just meant she couldn’t hide it any more.

“I, uh… hah—I don’t really know, if I’m being honest,” Gabby admitted, idly pulling her braid over her shoulder. She’d had to braid it herself the last few months; it was one of the few things Scott always insisted he’d do for her when he could. Even as they’d grown older, it was their little bonding ritual. The one thing they shared any time they could. “There’s just… on one hand, relief. Scott’s—awake, and… I’m happy about that. I’ve been so worried about him. But…” But there was one tidbit she’d left out while he was out. One small thing she hadn’t been able to tell him, not until he was awake and okay.

“I never… told him. About Dad. About how—how he made a choice, and… that choice meant he decided between me or him. I know it was wrong to not yell him, that it was wrong to lie, but—the only way we could communicate was through our SAM implants. How could I tell him that when he wasn’t awake? I couldn’t risk telling him and having that affect his recovery. Because if I lost him…” She didn’t even want to voice that thought. If she lost Scott, she’d lose the only family she had left. Sure, she had friends and comrades, but that was different. Very different.

Realizing how much she’d rambled, Gabby snapped up straight, cursing at herself. “Oh, god. I’m sorry. I just—ugh, good job Gabber,” she muttered to herself. “I think Peebee’s motor-mouthing is rubbing off on me.” Scott would have told her she’d gone “full Gabber”, but she wasn’t about to give anyone that ammunition.