Beyond the Empyreal Stars

3o.

3o.

Odette was exhausted. And it wasn't just from chasing Mia around the infirmary with Tansy either. Over the past two weeks, ever since her fight with Duke, she had tried her best to avoid him at all costs. At least he'd been doing the same.

After finishing her self-assigned duties in the infirmary, she went to the armory to find Nova, Bas, Padric, and her father all inside the Acer, going over more of the specific specs in the nav system. When she walked up the ramp inside, Graham was the first to turn and smile.

"Coming to join us, huh?" he asked.

Odette smiled back and nodded, taking the seat beside him. "Mia was making time management a little difficult. Teddy kept breaking his leg, so she insisted on us making a cast for him."

Graham chuckled, shaking his head as he reached over to take her hand, a regular gesture.

Though only Nova, Bas, and Padric knew the true relationship between the two of them, Odette had yet to call Graham 'father' or 'dad' aloud. Whenever she thought of him, though, she did. And every day she wondered what it would be like to actually say the title out loud...and what everyone's reactions would be.

For now, the secret was staying secret.

"Where are Lizzie and Carson?" Odette asked. "I have not seen them in a few hours."

"None of us have," Padric commented as he scrolled through the feeds on the glass shield in front of them.

"They're actually in the conference room with Alanna and Duke's officers...along with Duke himself," Graham explained. "There was a scheduled meeting with the other colony leaders. Something they really couldn't miss."

Bas raised a brow. "And that meeting was about...?"

"You guys, of course."

"Thought so."

"Should you be there also?" Odette asked, shifting toward him. "You are his top tech officer, are you not?"

"Yes, but..."

"Someone had to look after us," Padric finished for him, rolling his eyes as he walked over to sit, turning his chair toward them. "Come on, Odette. You can't really say you haven't noticed how someone's always near, keeping watch. It's like they're waiting for us to do something."

Graham grimaced. "I really wish I could say that wasn't the case...but it kind of is. Not that any of us think you would actually do something. Duke, though..."

"Is a stubborn jerk who cannot believe something even when it is right there in front of him?" Odette filled in.

"Exactly."

She couldn't keep herself from replaying what happened between them two weeks before. It wasn't as much as what she said to him, but the way he was looking at her after she brought him to his knees. There, just for a flicker of a moment, was the old Duke looking up at her, amazement clear in his eyes. Even with her bo staff sparking with electricity so close to his neck, he didn't look angry or shocked.

Then she had to go and say she'd fallen in love with him. She'd pushed that memory as far back as she could, especially when she knew he didn't feel the same about her anymore.

Squeezing Graham's hand, she stood. "I am going to rest before lunch. Come get me when you head to the kitchen."

"Are you all right?" Nova asked as Odette headed for the ramp of the Acer.