Red Sky at Night Ch. 02

"Honey!" Hannah interrupted, and she smiled at her daughter and stroked some matted red locks of hair away from her eyes. "It's okay. Like I said, I understand. I was a teenager too once."

Hannah opened her arms. "Come on," she said, and Jane hugged her mother back. "Let's just get you to the doctor, and we'll forget about it all."

February 14th, 2186 CE

SSV Orizaba

Jane had joined her mother aboard the Orizaba just as promised, taking a tour around the ship and meeting the senior officers, before joining her mother for lunch in the mess hall. Jane was glad in some ways that they were eating in a public area with Alliance personnel walking back and forth around them or sitting at other tables nearby. She knew her mother wasn't going to say anything to appropriate while they were out in the open like that. The mealtime conversation was actually mostly about Hannah, with Jane wanting to know more about what her mother had been up to over the past few years, particularly during the two-year gap where Jane had essentially been dead.

Jane was proud that her mother was a Captain now, and even understood why she'd turned down the offer to be an Admiral. Jane too wondered whether a desk job would ever suit her quite often, but every time the thought crossed her mind it was eventually dismissed. She and her mother were peas of the same pod; they had to be out there making a difference directly, not pushing papers and telling others to do the dirty work. Eventually, well after they'd finished the last of their food, the Orizaba's XO came over the comms with a message for Hannah: it was only half an hour until their scheduled departure.

"Sorry, honey. Duty calls," Hannah said with a pout.

"I understand," Jane said. "I'd probably best be heading off myself."

"Before you go, honey," Hannah said, reaching over the table to take Jane's hands in hers. "I just want to tell you something."

Jane looked over at her mother, and saw the intensity and seriousness of her gaze. It dawned on her that they were basically alone, with the nearest other person a kitchen hand clattering in the kitchen a fair distance away. "What is it, Mom?" Jane asked.

"If things don't work out for you in the future, whether it's at the trial, this whole Reaper thing, or.... other things," Hannah said, and Jane was pretty sure that last, unspecific thing was referring to her relationship with a certain blue-skinned person. "I just want you to know that I'll always be here for you."

"As a mother?" Jane asked.

"As whatever you want me to be," Hannah said, squeezing Jane's hand. "I don't want to pressure you, and I understand that it's probably for the best to keep things how they are. But.... I love you. I always will. And if you need me at all, I'll be here."

Jane didn't say anything, instead just trying to read her mother's face. Hannah blinked away some tears and let go of her daughter's hand, then stood up and smoothed her uniform.

"I should be on the bridge, honey," Hannah said, and she came around the table and opened her arms. Jane hugged her mother, and Hannah sighed contentedly at her shoulder. "I'm glad we finally caught up again. I missed you."

"Me too, Mom," Jane said.

"Just remember to stay in touch," Hannah said as they parted, prodding Jane just below her throat. "If I can ever help you with this Reaper thing, I'll do what I can."

Hannah saluted, and Jane returned the gesture. With a smile and a nod, Hannah turned and left, heading towards the main elevator. Just before disappearing from sight, she stopped and turned back to her daughter, saying one last thing.

"Take note of what day it is today, honey," Hannah noted with a bittersweet smile. "Perhaps it's fate we met today."

Jane's brow furrowed briefly, and then it hit her what her mother had meant. She replied, more to herself than her mother, and it came out as a whisper nobody else caught. "Valentine's Day," she breathed.

Jane returned to her own ship straight away, and the Normandy left The Citadel less than an hour later. It had been a long day for Jane, and what had been a lunch for her and her mother was closer to a late evening meal on Jane's timeline. Jane retired for a night's sleep, but sleep didn't come easily. Her mind kept drifting back to what her mother had said, then to her future, and finally back to the past. Events of her first hints of attraction to her mother had flooded back to her before the meal, but now more memories returned. If those earlier memories had been the moment when the line was set, these would be the memories when the line was crossed.