Pillow Talk
Posted on December 12th, 2018 by Kathryn Harper and Alexis Wright

by Alexis Wright and Kathryn Harper

Kathryn Harper crept softly into her dark bedroom, careful not to wake her sleeping wife. It had been an exhausting day, with the final battles against the Kvolir followed by the festival honoring them, and Lexy had already turned in while Kate was completing the last of the necessary reports on the matter. After detaching the finely-crafted sword given to her by Colonel Jaire from her belt and gingerly propping it in a corner, she began to undress. While quietly removing the Kvolir warrior garb that she had worn to the party—a short cropped studded-leather top with matching pants, and a bandolier with iconography representing her kills in her past career as a fighter pilot—she watched for any disturbance in the rhythmic rise and fall of Lexy’s sleeping form.

Seeing no change in her wife’s slumber, Kate added her underwear to the pile of her clothing on the floor and stealthily joined Lexy in bed, taking a moment to luxuriate in the sensation of the linen sheets against her bare skin, finding it incredibly relaxing after such a difficult day.

Despite Kate’s attempts to avoid disruption, she felt the warmth that was Lexy stir with the movement of the bedsheets and shift closer a few moments later, snuggling against her side. “Sorry… I tried to wait, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore,” Lexy murmured drowsily. “I left the nightlight on for you,” she added helpfully, as if this were not obvious.

“Thank you, love, and after today, who could fault you for falling asleep? I am almost there myself, but those reports could not wait.” Caressing Lexy’s hair, she added, “Sorry to wake you.”

“It’s okay,” Lexy replied, nodding while stifling a yawn, “And I understand. The higher my rank gets, the more paperwork I seem to have to do… I almost miss just being a scientist. I don’t envy your paperwork at all.” She snuggled closer, trying to add her warmth to Kate’s cooler skin. “Mm, I enjoyed watching you work tonight, though. You never cease to amaze me with how masterfully you handle situations like those.”

“You gave me the information I needed to do it, you know. That documentary you took from their network contained a wealth of knowledge about their culture, and without it, my attempts at diplomacy would have never succeeded.” She idly twirled a chocolate tress around her fingers and continued, “So, thank you, Lexy. I could not have done this without you.”

Kate couldn’t see Lexy’s grimace, but could hear it in her tone. “You’re welcome, of course, but I think I need to work on developing my skill set so I can be more helpful in the future. I think if you’d had someone more experienced at that sort of thing, you might’ve gotten more useful information sooner.” Her voice was still soft, but self-reproach and determination nibbled at the edges of the drowsiness.

“For a different definition of ‘useful’, perhaps.” Kate leaned up on her elbow and tilted Lexy’s face toward her with a gentle nudge of her fingers. “Such a person might have discarded the documentary as useless while trying to access weapons or defense systems. In the end, I needed cultural knowledge just as much as I needed to interrupt their drone network.”

Lexy favored her with a small smile. “Well… that’s what we said when we got married, isn’t it? We make a good team. I might not know much about accessing enemy systems—yet—but I do know you. I’m an expert in Kathryn Harper, and Kathryn Harper prefers to solve things diplomatically when she can. The harder the diplomatic nut is to crack, the harder she’s going to try to crack it.” She grinned at Kate, her mirth unmistakable despite the fact that her eyes were difficult to see in the dim light. “So, I just tried to get you the tools that you needed to do that. It was you that did the actual work of the thing.”

“Those tools were essential to successfully cracking the nut—the nutcrackers, I think you say? I could not have challenged Jaire as I did, or hosted such a celebration, or actually learned an alien ritual dance well enough to perform it, without you. And the rest of the crew, as well, but I will thank them later, since I do not share a bed with them.” Kate cut off her tired rambling and touched her forehead to Lexy’s before whispering, “We do make a great team, so thank you.”

Raising her hand to cup Kate’s cheek, Lexy whispered in reply, “You never need to thank me for that, my darling.” She tipped her chin up and stole a kiss before adding, “I made a promise that I would always be there to support you. And I always will be, for the rest of our lives.” Lexy gently pulled Kate back down and cuddled up against her, stifling another yawn. “But right now, I support us both getting some well-deserved sleep. Sound good to you?”

Kate tightened her arm around Lexy as she closed her eyes and, after exhaling a long breath, finally answered, “Mmmmm, yes.”

Lexy closed her eyes, relaxed and content. “Computer… Lights out.”