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Of the Care and Keeping of Spartans Master List
Spring in Tchakova Park Full work on AO3 Spotify Playlist
Pairings: John-117/OC Status: Completed Summary:
Green was the color of the grass where he used to walk in Tchakova Park.
In which John meets a stranger in the park, Violet learns of the care and keeping of Spartans, and Cortana offers dating advice.
Chapter One: Lights on the Water
Chapter Two: The Jungle
Chapter Three: Goose
Chapter Four: The Rock
Chapter Five: Picture Frames
Chapter Six: Gold Visor, Hazel Eyes
Chapter Seven: First Aid
Chapter Eight: Headboards (NSFW)
Chapter Nine: Family Dynamics
Chapter Ten: Anthuriums
Chapter Eleven: Conversations
Chapter Twelve: Pillow Talk (NSFW)
Chapter Thirteen: Meet the Parents
Chapter Fourteen: Eavesdropping
Chapter Fifteen: Confessions
Chapter Sixteen: Arrivals
Chapter Seventeen: Downtown
Chapter Eighteen: Flashes and Blinks
Chapter Nineteen: Bathroom Conversations
Chapter Twenty: All Too Well
Chapter Twenty-One: Headboards Volume 2 (NSFW)
Chapter Twenty-Two: Girlhood
Chapter Twenty-Three: Fishies
Chapter Twenty-Four: Night Swim
Chapter Twenty-Five: Gúta (NSFW)
Chapter Twenty-Six: Carvings
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Persephone
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Sunshine
Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Scarf
Chapter Thirty: Cultivation
Chapter Thirty-One: Incursion
Chapter Thirty-Two: Ignorant Innocence
Chapter Thirty-Three: Home
Chapter Thirty-Four: Epilogue- Spring in the Highland Mountains
Bonus Chapter: Stay (NSFW)
Something Borrowed: A Sequel AO3 Spotify Playlist
Pairings: John-117/OC, Background Riz/Vannak Status: Completed 8/6/24 Summary
Springtime on Reach had always been Violet's favorite season. She had always adored the mild temperatures, the flowers and greenery in constant bloom and the beauty it brought to Tchakova Park. Meeting John beside the pond the year before had only given her another reason to love the spring. But, on a May evening beside a lake in the Highland Mountains, Violet found yet another reason to love springtime.
In which the 117s tie the knot, Cortana becomes an unlicensed therapist, Kai and Vannak organize a bachelorette party, and Riz plans a wedding.
Chapter One: The Desert
Chapter Two: Sisters
Chapter Three: The View From Tchakova Park
Chapter Four: Cinnamon Whiskey (NSFW)
Chapter Five: Housekeeping
Chapter Six: Tests
Chapter Seven: Cleansing
Chapter Eight: Discoveries
Chapter Nine: Orange Juice
Chapter Ten: Mer
Chapter Eleven: Something in the Orange
Chapter Twelve: Best Friends
Chapter Thirteen: Fog
Chapter Fourteen: Q&A
Chapter Fifteen: Group Message
Chapter Sixteen: Nightmares
Chapter Seventeen: Last Minute (NSFW)
Chapter Eighteen: Threads
Chapter Nineteen: Lamby
Chapter Twenty: Balloons and Streamers
Chapter Twenty One: Marco Polo
Chapter Twenty Two: Bachelorette Part 1
Chapter Twenty Three: Bachelorette Part 2
Chapter Twenty Four: The Morning After
Chapter Twenty Five: Bubbe Fran
Chapter Twenty Six: Becoming
Chapter Twenty Seven: Promises
Chapter Twenty Eight: Empty Chair
Chapter Twenty Nine: 117
Chapter Thirty: Epilogue- Someday Came Two Years Later
The View Between Villages Read on AO3
Status: In Progress (2/4)
Summary:
'This wasn’t home. It felt like someone else belonged here, and perhaps someone else did. He stopped being the boy who did the moment he called on that coin. Childhood came spinning to an end as soon as it came up heads.'
In which Violet receives orders to Eridanus II, and John brings his wife home.
Part One: Cold
Part Two: Ghosts
All Better Read on AO3
Status: Complete
Summary: Violet always left the lamp on in the living room.
Of Mothers and Bedtime Stories Read on AO3
Status: Complete Summary:
“Daddy?” Hailey called. “Yeah, babygirl?” “What’s your mommy’s name?” “Catherine.”
A line of questioning from a very curious five year old forces Violet to consider her feelings towards the woman that created her husband, and what she means to him.
Riz's House
This is basically Riz's house on Aleria in Possibilities...Just the living room and kitchen are flipped. What a lovely find.
Flip of the Coin - Part 2
Flip of the Coin ~ Part 2
Unconditionally - Part 1 of Flip of the Coin - Master Post
Posted on AO3
Spotify Playlist !!NOW ACTIVE!!
***PLAYLIST COMPLETE.***
Summary: After the Human-Covenant War, Master Chief John-117 did not get lost for four years on the Pillar of Autumn. He went MIA instead and chose to retire to Aleria with Riz-028. To his surprise, Corporal Talia Perez is there having rescued Kai-125 from floating in space. Now that he's there with Talia, a real life with possibilities are an option to explore.
Pairing: John-117/Talia Perez
Status: ****NOW COMPLETE***
💚🧡💚🩶💛🩶
Chapter 1: The Arrival - Short Change Hero
Chapter 2: Back at Home - I Get a Little Starstruck
Chapter 3: Sleeping Arrangements - Stay for a Little While
Chapter 4: Lunch Date - What Am I?
Chapter 5: Master Chief's Got Bank - Get Used to This
Chapter 6: Reading and Revelations - Crowded Heart
Chapter 7: Morning Pillow Talk - Start at the Beginning
Chapter 8: Riz Understands - The Best Things
Chapter 9: Honesty - With You
Chapter 10: The Fight - Mama Said Knock You Out
Chapter 11: First Steps to Intimacy - Rainbow
Chapter 12: Nightmare - Different Kind of Tears
Chapter 13: Making Plans - Breathe In
Chapter 14: Hike with Cortana - Light the Way
Chapter 15: Karaoke Night - Part 1
Chapter 16: Karaoke Night - Part 2
Chapter 17: Karaoke Night - Part 3 - GOOD
Chapter 18: Karaoke Night - Part 4 - I Want It
Chapter 19: Morning After - Cloud Nine/Life Worth Living
Chapter 20: Breakfast and Cinnamon Rolls - Unwritten
Chapter 21: Girl Time - Count on Me
Chapter 22: Date Night - Start of Something Good
Chapter 23: Riz's Date - Nothing Like You
Chapter 24: Real Talk - Mad About It
Chapter 25: A Surprise to Come Home to - Too Good to Be True
Chapter 26: John Dreams - Nobody Knows Me
Chapter 27: Space Zillo - Trouble
Chapter 28: Casinos, Strippers and Glitter...Oh My - We Do This
Chapter 29: Fruits of My Labors - Jekyll and Hyde
Chapter 30: Shit Hits the Fan - Control
Chapter 31: Aftermath - Keep Me
Chapter 32: The Talk - Too Soon
Chapter 33: At Last - The Day I Knew I Needed You
Chapter 34: Day Dreaming - Call It Dreaming
Chapter 35: Forever Together - This Must Be the Place
Chapter 36: It's Time - Featherstone
Chapter 37: Can It Be True - Blue Skies
Chapter 38: Forward - I Get to Love You
Chapter 39: Community - Who You Share It With
Chapter 40: Epilogue - Fall into Me
“He looked down at her, morning light casting a glow across her skin as if she had been woven from it. Violet stared up at him with half lidded eyes and pretty kiss swollen lips, her arms around his neck and fingers brushing through his hair. He had decided as he watched that security feed weeks ago that there would never be a man who came after him that deserved Violet Harris. No man ever would deserve the woman she was. He would try to become that man, though. Even if it took him whatever time he had left to do so.” -Spring in Tchakova Park, Chapter 21: Headboards Vol. 2
Absolute in LOVE with this fan art @threshergm commissioned of John and Violet from my fic Spring in Tchakova Park. Just look at them. My heart. 😭❤️
I’ve never had fan art made for my work before. What an honor! Thank you so much!! Check out the insanely talented artist on Reddit at u/ferversaile and read the whole completed work on AO3!
Spring in Tchakova Park
Read on AO3
Master List
Chapter Playlist
Summary: Green was the color of the grass where he used to walk in Tchakova Park.
In which John meets a stranger in the park, Violet learns of the care and keeping of Spartans, and Cortana offers dating advice. (Complete 5/7/24)
Chapter Summary: Violet's dating history is exposed to the team. John, Violet and the team arrive at the Demeter Project, and John has a realization.
Chapter Twenty Eight: Sunshine
The two nights leading up to their shared mission were, if he was putting it lightly, chaotic. Violet filled each moment they were home with last minute planning and tasks. John had been exposed to the full scope of Violet’s disorganization that he had only seen glimpses of as they prepared for their trip into the mountains with her family. With the distraction of the inoperable system, she had become far more scattered than he knew her to be. Storage bins that contained a staggering amount of clothing were emptied onto their bed after returning home from work on Monday night. The better part of the evening was spent with her digging through the piles in search of her field clothing that she stuffed haphazardly into her duffle bag. He trailed behind her all night, silently cleaning up the mess she left in her wake as she tore through the apartment like a windstorm. He had been grateful when she left for a third time to run to the retail center for another item she had forgotten to purchase and left him to fold and tuck away the clothing that had accumulated on the bed in a silent house.
For their final night at home, Violet decided to invite the team over for one last dinner before they departed Reach for the foreseeable future. She had grocery shopped Sunday before returning to work and grumbled all Monday evening about food waste as she cooked dinner for the two of them, barely making a dent in the full fridge. He had received a message the next morning from Violet announcing that she needed help clearing out the fridge and requesting that the team join them at the apartment. Much to his annoyance, he found that she had put them all into a group thread together that she, Riz, and Kai communicated solely on for the remainder of the day as his pad buzzed every few minutes when Kai changed the name of the group to fit her current liking and Riz fed Violet the latest base gossip she had overheard.
He took Sadie to her parents’ home once they arrived home that evening and left Violet to finish her last minute packing before the team arrived. Jane sent him home with even more food that he had attempted to politely decline until she met him with that hard stare that Violet had replicated when he came back through the door with arms full of dishes. Kai, Riz, and Vannak were all perched in their usual places when he came home like they were integral to the structure of the apartment when he returned home and leaned down to kiss Violet’s cheek apologetically as she took the dishes from him with a sigh. Kai and Vannak were both vocal in their disapproval of Sadie’s absence throughout the evening as they all picked at the contents of the refrigerator that Violet had prepared and set out on the island. It hadn’t taken long for the four Spartans to make quick work of the odds and ends, leaving a collection of empty dishes on the island as they sat around and talked. John stood in the kitchen with Vannak, both collecting dishes and trash as the three women sat huddled on the sofa. Riz announced after dinner that she and Violet had been on kitchen duty the last time they had all gathered and both women were all too happy to send their men back into the kitchen with pleased smiles. They knew better than to argue.
“I have found four local carpenters that can reinforce furniture. Would you like me to send their information over to Doctor Harris’ pad?”
John looked over to where Violet sat between Riz and Kai on the sofa, the frame groaning under each shift of their weight. His team had spent nearly every other night since their return from the mountains in their apartment and Violet’s furniture had begun to protest each time he or a member of his team lowered themselves into it. He watched Violet tilt her head back to laugh at something Kai said. The blonde lowered herself off of the sofa as it groaned again to lay on the living room floor and kick her feet up into Violet’s lap.
“Get quotes from each. Send them over to mine once you have them.”
“You got it, Chief.”
Violet rose from the sofa as Riz and Kai turned their conversation to one another and crossed the living room to where he stood at the island. John lowered his cheek to her as she popped up onto her toes. Soft lips brushed against his jaw, her hand on his arm as he wrapped his own around her waist. His fingers brushed against the soft fabric of her sweater and she rested her head on his arm, “Want to swap out for a bit?”
He pressed his lips to her head in response, “I’m fine. Go sit.”
“You sure? I feel bad; we’ve only been home from vacation for a few days and we’ve done nothing but get ready for the next one. You’re spoiling me with all this vacation time, I might start expecting it.”
He rolled his eyes at the tired joke she had been using since she received the news of their now shared assignment. “It’s not a vacation, Goose,” he sighed. “It’s a humanitarian mission.”
“It’s a fucking babysitting job is what it is,” Vannak grumbled as he passed by her to settle beside Riz on the sofa.
Violet smirked at his crotchety tone while John watched as he sat and threw his arm over the back of the sofa behind Riz. Since their discovery in the words, the two had been far less secretive. Still quite private, but John found that the gazes they had held from across the room since they were teenagers had given away to gentle touches when they thought no one was looking. He always pretended not to notice.
Violet followed him back to the living room to sit beside their friends again. “You don’t want to hang out with me? That hurts my feelings, Vannak. I thought we were friends. I’m sad now.”
“Fuck off, Harris.”
“Ouch,” she pressed a hand to her chest in mock offense. “And you kiss Riz with that mouth? Shame on you.”
Riz laughed from beside her as Vannak rolled her eyes and tucked her legs under herself, “So, tell us about this installation of yours?”
John watched Violet toss the blanket off of her lap and stand up to cross to the bookshelves as she excitedly explained the mission of the project he knew she held so dearly. She plucked a frame from the shelf below where their picture sat and turned to hold it out to Kai and Riz. He had seen the picture before; Violet standing with the Demeter team in front of one of the greenhouses, all smiling proudly with arms around one another. It was framed in her mother’s home as well. She tapped on the face of each of her companions as she spoke.
“There were nine of us in total before I left,” she explained, smiling as she looked over the faces of her team, “The research team was made up of myself, Meredith, and Devrin. Saul is our ionic physicist, Jin is a biochemist and the smartest woman I’ve ever met. Leif and Bastian are our horticulturists, and Derek and Corey are the project engineers. They’re all exceptional.”
Kai pointed beyond her to the shelves, her augmented vision honed in on another frame, “Who’s the Ranger?”
John knew exactly what picture Kai referenced. He had noticed it himself shortly after he started spending time in her apartment; Violet standing shoulder to shoulder with a dark haired Ranger, his arm around her as they laughed. It had been an innocent enough image tucked between pictures of Violet with other friends that he hadn’t thought anything of it. He picked up Vannak’s plate off the island and set it into the sink with a smirk as Violet started to blush.
“Oh that? He’s just an old friend. He was stationed at the same base.”
John couldn’t help the chuckle that barked out of him, “Oh, ‘an old friend’? That’s what we’re calling him now?”
She sighed as she set the frame back down on the shelf, cheeks still red as she returned to her spot on the sofa, “Oh my god, stop. We’ve been over this.”
Riz and Kai looked to him quizzically as he continued to collect dishes. “They dated,” he explained, both redhead and blonde nodding in acknowledgement.
Riz looked back to Violet, “I thought Dev was a scientist?”
“He is…Greg is a Ranger, though.”
“Violet Harris, you little harlot,” Kai laughed. She raised a foot to gently kick Violet’s knee in jest from where she lay on her back on the living room floor, turning her head to look up at Violet, “Two exes at the same base?”
Violet scoffed and kicked Kai’s knee in return, her touch doing nothing to move the larger woman. Her cheeks remained red, and John smirked as she sputtered and pointed across the living room to where he stood. “John fucked a POW. Why don’t we talk more about that? Why is my dating history suddenly under scrutiny?”
Vannak, Kai and Riz all let out a collective groan at the statement. “Old news, Harris,” Riz said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We all know about that. This is far more interesting. Tell us; many broken hearts did you leave in your wake? How many men are there?”
Violet rubbed her face with a groan and shot him a dirty look over her shoulder, “He’s making it sound far more exciting of a story than it is; we were close friends, we both were interested but never acted on it until Dev and I broke up. We dated for a few months before I left for Reach. We both knew it wasn’t going to go anywhere. We were just enjoying one another’s company. We’re friends. That’s all.”
“I remember there being more to the story than just that.” Cortana smirked.
John rolled his eyes at the single detail she had chosen to omit. Violet had shared the story with him weeks ago, claiming full honesty in one another’s lives after the night he left. She had told him of her ‘old friend’ one night as she nervously shared each detail. He found it comically hypocritical that his botanist now withheld information as she spoke of it to them. He leaned his elbows against the island, “Is that why you made a marriage pact, then?”
“John,” she sighed. Four pairs of eyes fixed upon her as she dropped her head into her hands.
“A what?” Kai laughed.
Violet lifted her head and held her hands out in defeat, flashing a tight, embarrassed smile, “I had just turned thirty, I was freaking about about getting older, he’s four years older than me, we both want kids. We agreed that if we both were still single when I turned thirty two that we would get married. Obviously, we aren’t, because look at where you are all currently sitting. I love John very much. Everyone shut up and drop it.”
John relented at the tight-smiled glare he caught from across the room, recognizing impending trouble for himself when he could see it. Ignoring Riz’s warning taps on his knee, Vannak continued to chuckle, “Are you going to kick his ass too, Chief?”
“No one is kicking anyone’s ass,” Violet groaned, pressing her hands to her flushed cheeks. “We’re going to go, we’re going to do what we need to do, and everyone is going to be cool about it. Got it?”
Kai raised her hand from where she laid on the floor, “What about Dev? Am I allowed to kick his ass?”
Biting back his permission to use Johal for target practice if Kai so desired, John looked to Violet for her reply. Violet sighed and turned back to the woman beside her.
“I said… Do not… You-,” she stopped and sighed again, clapping her hands together and bringing them to her chin. She pondered for a moment before nodding in approval, “That’s fine. You can kick his ass. But just him, no one else, Kai. And only with good reason. Understood?”
Kai laughed and nodded, “You never let us have any fun, Harris.”
Riz shook her head and glanced over at the late evening hour on the chrono, announcing that it was time for the three to return to the base. The three rose in a chorus of chatter as Violet hugged both women goodbye, ignoring Vannak’s begrudging protests as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight squeeze. John and Riz exchanged a sympathetic look with one another at the realization that they were stuck playing audience to their antics until the repairs were completed. Something about the sight of them all in the apartment together, Violet hugging and laughing with his sisters and bantering with his brother, felt right to him. As if it should have always been that way. John had only known a few places he had considered home in his lifetime, yet all of them had lacked the feeling he felt now as he stood in their kitchen and watched her wish their family a goodnight in the home she gave him. It was the same feeling he had felt every time he sat under the Harris’ backyard lights. The same feeling he had felt watching them all swim in that cold lake. The same feeling he had felt as they laid around the dying fire beside the oak listening to them swap stories while Violet slept on his chest. It was a wholeness that filled him up; a warm heaviness that crawled over him like he was standing in the sun. He hoped it would never leave.
The lock rolled in the tumbler as Violet turned from the door, crossed the apartment to the bedroom door, and disappeared inside. “I’m going to change and then I’ll come help you finish up,” she called behind her.
“Already done,” he called back. He left the kitchen and crossed to the balcony windows. The park laid below him, illuminated in the dusky glow of the lamp posts. His eyes fell to the pricks of light on the water to find the yellow glow of where he stood.
“Okay, can you come help me double check my bag then? I feel like I forgot something.”
John glanced over to where she had returned to the doorway. His response caught in his throat as he realized that she had not been dressed in the pullover and sweatpants she had worn the night before to be. He raked his eyes over the garment she wore instead; all sheer black lace that did little to cover her. Her hair tumbled over her shoulders, Violet smirking up at him from where she leaned against the doorframe. John forgot what he had been doing, nor could he remember what they had been discussing as his eyes rolled over her again and he matched the playful look on her face.
“What’s this?”
“Oh, this? I picked it up one of the times I went out last night. I felt bad for being such a pain this week. And, you were clear that we’re not allowed to be ‘inappropriate’ with one another while we’re away,” she smiled. John recalled the conversation regarding the profession courtesies to be expected on this joint deployment they engaged in night before, “So, I figured since it’s our last night at home, and we don’t have a dog to share a bed with, we might as well get our fill of each other.”
“Might as well.”
“But,” she sighed the word out in a playful singsong. “You did just make me look like a total skank in front of our friends.”
She clicked her tongue and shrugged. Pushing herself off of the wall, she turned her back to him to reveal how deliciously little the garment covered as she began to push the bedroom door shut behind her, “So, I think I’m going to change and go to bed instead. Goodnight!”
John crossed the room in a matter of steps to press his hand against the door as she giggled from behind it. Violet met him with a smirk as he started to remove his shirt.
“On the bed, Goose.”
She smiled that Violet smile, her eyes burning as she looked up at him. She stepped back against the bed and perched herself on the edge of it to watch as he began to work off his pants.
“That’s naked enough for me to know it’s time to abide by Rule #1,” Cortana sighed. “Goodnight, Chief.”
---
John couldn’t think of a place less fitting for Violet as he looked over the base.
“Cortana?”
Cortana stood beside him in the cockpit as the ship lowered onto the tarmac with a lurch, blue light glowing on the walls around him as she briefed him.
“Forward Operating Base Nomad,” Cortana chirped. “Located 30 klicks east of a small civilian settlement. The locals are of Cambodian descent and speak primarily Khmer. Several insurgent cells populate the area. The primary function of the base had been to engage with the local population to gather intelligence, build relationships, and conduct civil-military operations. The Ranger team assigned to the base has worked with the locals to form and train a small militia, along with conducting operations out of the base.”
“And it houses a badass scientific project,” Violet called. John turned over his shoulder to her. Violet braided her still shower-damp hair as she approached the cockpit. “Can’t forget about that, Cortana.”
She had changed into cargo pants and a thin long sleeve embellished with the project’s insignia since emerging from cryosleep. She had spent the better part of the past half hour in the showers, her and Vannak tossing back insults as she still retched and gagged on the taste of the suppressant that had filled her lungs over the past three weeks of travel. Cortana had been there when Violet woke to remind her to sit up and cough, speaking gently to Violet as she turned and vomited directly onto the floor, and continued to spit up bile and the mucus-like suppressant for several minutes after.
She was still slightly green as she stepped into the cockpit to stand beside him and press a kiss to his jaw. John noticed the length of tawny brown fabric she wore loosely wrapped around her neck. She had fished it out of a box in her closet while packing at the apartment and he didn’t ask how a civilian contractor had ended up with a tactical scarf that looked like it had made it through several missions. He hadn’t been sure he wanted the answer as he watched the determined way she had stuffed it into her rucksack.
“That as well, Doctor Harris,” Cortana agreed with a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better. Thank you, Cortana. Again, I’m so sorry for throwing up on you.”
“Well, being that you vomited through me, as it would be impossible for you to vomit on me, I assume all is forgiven.”
Violet laughed that musical laugh and nodded before turning green eyes up to John, “One last kiss before the helmet goes on and I’m not allowed to touch you? I brushed my teeth twice, I promise.”
John chuckled and lowered his lips to hers, Violet taking his face in her hands. Cortana excused herself in a flurry of blue light to leave them alone. John was grateful for the moment together, her lips on his and his hand on her back. She released his face with a final peck on the cheek and smiled at him before turning out of the cockpit.
“Come on,” she called. “Let’s get this over with so we can go home.”
A team was waiting on the tarmac as they arrived, the engines kicking up swirls of dust as they stepped off into the heat. Violet blocked the bright sunlight that flooded into the cargo bay with a raised hand as the ramp dropped. John had seen dozens of FOBs just like the one that laid beyond the tarmac; command center surrounded by several different semi-permanent structures, a small field hospital, and CHU housing. A perimeter wall surrounded the base, fortified with a handful of guard towers, concertina wire, and surveillance equipment to monitor and defend against potential threats. The small base sat in the foreground of jagged mountains dotted with skeletal trees. He couldn’t picture Violet in a place with such little green. Much less being there for four years.
Three greenhouses sat on the far side of the base beside a low building. They were much less grandiose versions of the ones Violet occupied back at FLEETCOM, smaller and dingier with panes covered in the dust that seemed to cling to everything. Each bore the same insignia on the polycarbonate roofs that Violet wore on the pocket of her shirt; an overflowing cornucopia ringed with laurel leaves. He’d seen the same insignia on a few of the pullovers she would slip into after their evening runs; The Demeter Project.
He watched Violet descend the ramp as it touched down on the tarmac, pulling the scarf over her mouth and nose as she stepped down into the still swirling grime. John found that their welcome committee didn’t consist of just the team sent out to retrieve supplies as his heavy footsteps thudded against the ramp. He recognized the Ranger whose picture sat in their apartment at the base of the ramp, the name of his uniform confirming his identity to John. He stood straight, his hands clasped behind his back as Violet continued down the ramp and pulled the scarf over her head. The thick deployment beard did nothing to hide the smile that the dark haired man tried to suppress at the sight of Violet.
“Captain Mullins,” Violet called over the quieting engines, continuing down the ramp to him.
“Welcome back, Doctor Harris. Wonderful to see you, as always,” he nodded. John stayed behind her, watching as the man’s eyes darted to him behind the lenses of his sunglasses. “Master Chief. Welcome to Nomad.”
Violet smiled, her hand still raised as she spoke, “They still have you at this shithole?”
“Some of us call this shithole home, Doctor. You did not too long ago. Not all of us get to waltz off to a corner office.”
She laughed that musical laugh as she stepped in front of him on the tarmac, and the man’s smile only grew. John’s jaw tightened as Mullins reached a hand to Violet’s face and tugged at the scarf, adjusting it so that it blocked the sun from her eyes.
“It’s hardly a corner office,” she laughed. “More of a supply closet with some leg room.”
“Just a friendly reminder that breaking his wrist would most likely result in a court-martial. Do with that information what you will, Chief.”
“Noted.”
“Sounds like leaving wasn’t as much of an adventure as you hoped for, then.”
“It was, actually,” Violet responded, her nose crinkling slightly. “In other ways. I’ll fill you in later when we get some free time.”
“I’d like that.”
“I’m sure he would,” Cortana grumbled, “On second thought, I could make revisions to reports to make any injuries seem like a terrible accident. Just give me the word, Chief. I’m ready when you are.”
John ignored Cortana’s tight tone and watched as Violet pulled Mullins in for a hug. It was a friendly gesture, the same way he had seen her force hugs upon Vannak. But Mullins leaned into her in the same way John would when Violet would snake her arms around him. Mullins laughed as he pulled Violet to him.
“It’s nice to see you, Greg,” she smiled.
“Hey, Sunshine,” John stiffened even further. “Good to have you home.”
“Excuse me? Her name is Goose. Seriously, Chief. On your signal.”
“Quiet.”
The man released Violet from the bear hug he had wrapped her into and readjusted the shifted scarf with a smile of his own. “Your team set your room back up at the Garden Center- no one’s been in there since you left. You’re welcome to stay there, but I heard rumors that Saul and Leif may have turned it into a gaming room so you may have to evict a few squatters.”
She rolled her eyes with an amused sigh, “Still acting like a couple of fifteen year olds?”
“You thought they would magically grow up in the eight months you’ve been gone?”
She scoffed, still shaking her head as Mullins turned to address John again. “I apologize, Master Chief, but we are short on housing. We are happy to see what temporary accommodations we can make for your team until we are able to find something more long-term.”
“Ooo, offer to bunk with Doctor Harris,” Cortana offered, tone dripping with mischief. “That may be enough for him to pick up on.”
John rolled his eyes, “We will be fine on the Condor, Captain.”
Mullins nodded and went on to ask about unloading the supplies. Violet jumped in to answer before John could speak, “The three over there are mine. It’s expensive equipment, Greg. Like, lose my job if it’s broken kind-of expensive. Make sure it’s handled appropriately, please.”
“Have I ever let you down?”
“I don’t know,” she crossed her arms, shifting her weight onto her hip as she stared back at him with a hard glare. “Do I need to remind you of Wendell’s little accident with my herbarium cabinets?”
“Oh good, still holding that grudge,” Mullins muttered. He turned from the ramp, “Message received, Vi.”
Violet nodded and turned back up the ramp, calling that she should get her things before the unloading team came up to retrieve cargo and load it onto the small convoy that sat on the tarmac. John turned to follow her into the cargo bay, the neat end of her braid swaying with each step she took. He watched as she looked around and mumbled to herself as she tried to remember where she had stowed away her things in the week prior, fingers fidgeting with the fraying edge of the scarf.
Wordlessly, John pointed to the far side of the cargo bay to where her bags sat. Violet muttered out a triumphant noise as she wove through the crates to her things. John followed behind, “Sunshine, huh?”
“Oh, please,” she groaned. She adjusted her braid as she slung her rucksack over her shoulders. “Don’t start. We’ve gone over this; we dated for a few months. I lived here for four years, mind you. I had a life before I met you. You do remember that we practically live together, right?”
“I’m aware.”
Violet huffed out a laugh and shook her head, “You’re so jealous.”
“I’m not.”
“You so are,” she laughed, pulling her eyes from his to continue to look for her bag. He reached to her face, tucking a finger up her chin and lifting her face to make her eyes meet his again. Green looked up at him from under thick lashes, her lips parted slightly in surprise.
“I’m not jealous,” his voice was low as he spoke. Violet’s eyes never left his as he held her chin in gauntleted hand. “That would mean I want something I can’t have. I’m protecting what belongs to me.”
Violet eyes darkened slightly at his statement as she smiled up at him, taking his wrist in her hand and pressing her lips to her palm. “All yours, big guy,” she murmured, “Now can you please be nice?”
John brought his hand to her face and brushed his thumb along her cheek. Professional courtesies were all but forgotten when Violet looked up at him from under the edge of that scarf in a way that was so different from the way she had looked at Mullins on the tarmac; in a way he knew belonged only to him in all of that warmth and loveliness. He traced his thumb along the curve of her lips and she pressed a kiss to the pad of it as she watched her reflection in the visor of his helmet. All yours, she had said. He was all hers as well. Every piece and part and dent belonged to her.
“Whatever you say, Goose.”
Those eyes that belonged to only him were pulled away at the sound of Mullins’ voice on the ramp. John dropped his hand as Violet reached down to pick up her duffle bag.
“Hey, Harris! You headed to the labs? I can have a couple of guys take your equipment over before we head out with supplies.”
Violet’s footsteps thudded against the ramp as she walked towards where Mullins stood beside the crates that held her equipment. She tossed her bags atop one of them. “You think I’m going to miss out on a trip into town? Yeah, right. You know me better than that, Greg. I’m coming with you. You can have them take my things there. I’ll head that way when we get back.”
Mullins nodded and called out orders to the unloading team. A small group of men greeted Violet as they came to collect her supplies and she greeted each by name with bright smiles. Mullins nodded towards the installation and John followed his gesture to the group of people that approached, all but one waving excitedly at Violet as they neared. “Geek Squad is out here to see you.”
John recognized the bounce of Meredith Powell’s hair as she sprinted at Violet and tackled her to the ground in a tight hug. Violet yelped as she was knocked to the ground with a puff of red dirt, the sound immediately replaced by that musical laughter as she clung to her friend. The rest of the team lingered behind, all stepping forward to hug his botanist after Meredith helped her back to her feet. They watched him with wide eyes as he stood behind her, but the moment of wonder was lost to Violet as she pulled them all in with happy laughter. John noticed that Devrin stayed back, arms crossed tightly against his chest as he nodded to Violet.
“Doctor Harris.”
“Doctor Johal.”
Dev regarded John with a curt nod. A flicker of fear flashed in the scientist’s eyes before he turned to head back to the installation. Mullins called out to Violet again with that nickname that made John grit his teeth from where the convoy sat. Violet turned away from her team to where Mullins stood and waved her over, “We’re ready when you are, kid!”
Violet squeezed the shoulders of the large Black man she hugged- John recognized him as Saul from her picture- and turned away with promises to catch up with all of them later as she crossed to where Mullins waited for her.
“You’re all with me,” John said. The team’s acknowledgement lights flashed on his HUD as they all started down the ramp towards the convoy. “Looks like we’re taking a drive.”
Violet smiled at him over her shoulder as she talked to Mullins, watching as soldiers loaded into the convoy behind them. Mullins tore his eyes away from the botanist to acknowledge Silver Team as they approached before returning his attention to Violet, “Insurgent groups have been active again since the famine. We’ve been working with the local militia to keep it at bay, but it’s not like you remember it. It’s best if you stick with an armed escort, Sunshine.”
John stepped behind Violet, subtly tapping his hand against her back. He was sure he would get an earful from her about breaking his own rules when they got a moment together. She leaned into the touch, looking over to where Kai, Riz, and Vannak stepped beside him with one of those bright smiles before turning back with Mullins.
“Well, I was sent with four. I think I’ll be alright, don’t you?”
---
Violet jumped into action as soon as they arrived in the village. John watched as she interacted with the crowd of villagers that met the convoy and chatted with each soldier in that same warm way; asking of spouses and parents and children as she greeted each. Each seemed to meet Violet with that same warmth, her brightness touching all those around her even in the bleak village. John watched as she reached into the crates to pass out rations and supplies to villagers that she greeted in their native tongue, chatting with each in Khmer as they approached her. Pride settled into him as he watched her goodness translate into the sense of gentle authority that had come over her since they arrived.
John watched as a young girl ran up to Violet and threw her arms around her middle. Violet wrapped her arms around the child without looking down to identify her first, but John watched her face light up in happy recognition as she did. Violet took the girl’s face in her hands as she spoke excitedly to the girl in the tonal language. John leaned over to where Riz stood beside him watching the distribution, Violet still smiling as she brushed the girl’s hair out of her face.
“What’s she saying?”
Riz listened for a moment as Violet spoke to the girl. “She’s telling her how tall and beautiful she’s gotten.”
Cortana continued to translate for him long after Riz did. She buzzed between his ears as she relayed each side of the villagers’ conversations with Violet. She spoke to each one with nothing but softness; her voice kind and gentle. Each villager regarded her as one would welcome home an old friend with wide smiles passed between each party. Violet reached out and grasped the hand of a woman who welcomed her in greeting, asking the woman how her mother had been and if her sister had delivered her baby. She told another little boy how much he looked like his older brother as she hugged him tightly. She asked another man about his wife, and when he replied that she was with child, Violet looked around to make sure no one had been watching before she snuck the man a few extra rations with that kind smile. It went on like that for some time. John watched as the goodness that she radiated like sunbeams touched everyone she surrounded in her. Sunshine, Mullins had called her. The captain hadn’t been too far off.
He looked from Violet to where the captain stood with members of his team, turned at his fellow Ranger’s side so that he could both speak to the man and still assess the crowd. Mullins watched beyond where villagers gathered at the convoy to where Violet stood, the captain watching her with the same soft smile that was hidden behind his helmet. John had never been the most adept with social queues, but he recognized the man’s look immediately; John had looked at Violet that same way since that evening he met her in the park. He had seen other men look at her that way before; MPs she’d become friendly with at the gates back home, horticulturalists on her team, damn near every man she had walked past on that base just today. He found with each of their stares that the fear he had once felt did not come. It did not creep in like a frost and chill him until he could no longer move. He did not fear and lament the man who would come after him and someday deserve Violet Harris, or the men who had come before. He simply knew there would never be another man. He was the only one she looked back at the same way.
Violet looked up at the sound of a dog’s bark. John found the pitch of it familiar. Her eyes fell on the source; a small pack of dogs that lay panting in the shade of a building. He had noticed the population of strays that roamed the village when they arrived. A smile crept across her face at the sight and she stepped to the edge of the vehicle’s cargo bed to lower herself to the ground. Mullins was on her in an instant, offering his hand for balance with another grin. Violet took his hand with an appreciative smile and hopped down with a puff of dirt before returning her focus to the dogs. She slowly approached the dogs, their eyes watching and ears twitching as she approached them with a series of soft whistles followed by calm whispers.
The dog in the center sat up, a black and white collie with a graying snout, and whined happily as Violet padded near them. John watched the dog’s tail start to sway as Violet approached. The excited way it wiggled reminded him of the way Sadie greeted him at the door every evening. Violet crouched down beside it, speaking softly to the pup as she started to scratch its ears and it rolled onto its back to expose its belly to her. John noticed a shepard sitting beside the collie in the shade, his bright white fur dull and dirty. He watched Violet cautiously as she pet the collie, protective of the dog that licked at the botanist’s hands. It reminded him of the dog he saw in his memories.
“Captain!” Kai called.
Mullins looked up and crossed from where he stood supervising the distribution as Kai waved him over. She gestured to where Violet sat with the grouping of dogs, giggling as the collie licked her face. “What’s with the wildlife?”
“It’s a part of the local charm. The locals stopped keeping them as pets years ago because they couldn’t feed them. They formed packs and started finding their own food sources. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Doctor Harris’ dog, but she adopted Sadie from the streets about two years ago. See that one she’s petting? That’s Sadie’s momma. Doctor Harris always makes sure to say hello. No animals on base, but Violet hid her for about three months before command found out. She found some loophole about installation rules over base rules, so Sadie became somewhat of a mascot for the project. She loves that dog something fierce. I’m surprised she was willing to leave her behind. I wonder who she trusted enough with her baby while she’s here.”
“Yeah, Chief,” John could hear the grin masked by Kai’s helmet in her voice as she looked over to him. “Who is watching your dog while you and Doctor Harris are here?”
Mullins straightened up and pulled his eyes from Violet to look up at the Master Chief, realization washing over his face at Kai’s question. Violet looked up from the old dog to glance over at John and offer him one of those bright Violet smiles. He couldn’t blame the captain for staring; John could understand every look she got. But those green eyes never left him, even as Mullins’ eyes returned to her a little bit more forlorn this time.
John watched as Violet stroked the dog’s back again and gave her rear a pat before standing up. She dusted off her hands on her pants, her eyes finding him again from where she stood in the shade. Violet brought her hand up again to block the dropping sun from her eyes as she gave him a small wave, the warmth in her eyes rivaling the blistering air around him and John found himself caught in the gaze that belonged to only him.
Spring in Tchakova Park
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Master List
Chapter Playlist
Summary: Green was the color of the grass where he used to walk in Tchakova Park.
In which John meets a stranger in the park, Violet learns of the care and keeping of Spartans, and Cortana offers dating advice. (Completed 5/7/24)
Chapter One: Lights on the Water
He had come to frequent Tchakova Park.
It wasn’t the park itself he enjoyed; the blooming cherry blossom trees sweetening the air over the paved walking paths, the collection of flora from planets both familiar and far away twisting and bowing in the late spring breeze, or the sunset throwing pinky hues across the pond the park centered around. The scenery was nice, he was the first to admit that. Even with Cortana chirping in his ear about the origin, species and genus of every flower or tree he would linger by for too long. He could live with that.
But what he had become most fond of was the noise. He had grown up on battlefields where noise had always been plenty. Thick and heavy and violent. But, the noise he experienced within the park was so different from the noise he knew. It felt lighter somehow. No thunder of gunshots and explosions, no pained shouts or battle cries, nor orders shouted directly through the auditory system of his helmet. That didn’t exist here. It was like a low hum; pleasant and intoxicating. The music of the street performers, the laughter and chatter of passing civilians, the low hum of motorbikes, the heavy breathing of joggers as they passed him on the paths… it didn’t make him feel like a soldier. Like a Spartan. It made him feel human.
He spent most of his time between deployments this way, wandering the footpaths that wove through the park. Doctor Keyes encouraged them to seek joy outside of the program since she took over; to find themselves after spending so long being told who they were and what to be. The young doctor had been openly horrified when she had asked each of the Spartans what hobbies or interests they had during their get-to-know-you meetings she had required of them after she had been instated as the head of the division. Not a single one of them could provide an answer outside of her single parameter to her question; that it could not be Spartan related. That had become their assignment that week; find something you enjoy.
So he would walk. No orders, no demands, just purposeless walking for the sake of walking.
He would stay out past dusk, drinking in the final sounds of the city until the final group of kids would gather their balls and make their way to the transit stations. The apartments that stood over the park would come alive shortly after, the warm lights that illuminated their windows glittering on the surface of the pond. The signs of families returning home for the night, gathering around tables and exchanging stories about their days. Some nights he would choose a bench; he would sit and count the windows bathed in light until they flickered out one by one like snuffed flames. He’d watch as the city around him drifted off to sleep, the light in the windows diminishing one at a time, before tucking his hands in his pockets and returning to base alone.
He had been confused by it the first time he noticed, observing that the park would fall quiet and the buildings around him brighter at the same time every night over the span of a week. Cortana must have sensed his confusion, as she did everything else.
“Six o’ clock in the evening is the average time in which most residents of New Alexandria return home, according to my findings. The busiest route times on Reach Public Transport are the-. ” she had explained calmly, her chipper voice ringing in his ears as she listed off the working hours of the average citizen.
He had stopped listening. That word sat heavy in his chest as he watched a man on a balcony over the park hold his child, pointing to the ships that arrived and departed at FLEETCOM in the distance; home. Cortana had defined it in every way she could possibly conjure, but he still couldn’t make sense of it, nor the feeling in his chest that arose each time she spoke it.
Silver Team had spent the better part of the month in the Monaco System to return only several hours earlier. It had been a successful mission; high Covenant casualties and no Spartan injuries. Kai, Riz and Vannax had filed into their bunks after debrief, all exhausted and bruised and in desperate need of a shower. But he had found himself walking until he reached the transit station with the noises of battle still banging in his ears; too loud and too violent. He needed to walk, needed to listen, needed a moment of stillness and the gentle melody of humanity at its most peaceful. At its most gentle. At its most calm.
The park was mostly empty, John finding himself alone on the walking trail that twisted around the pond. He had remembered seeing the advertisements for a violinist playing in the amphitheater that night the week prior, his feet taking him down the familiar path he had traveled so many times over the months. He liked attending the shows. He tried to go as many as he could when they were on stand-by. Occasionally Kai would join him, but he preferred going alone. Kai preferred to talk, he preferred to listen.
He pressed on, the late spring breeze ruffling the trees overhead and scattering the pavement with a sprinkling of fat pink blooms. He peeked through the slips between branches, counting the apartment lights that slowly began to illuminate as if beckoning the residents home. He felt that same tug in his chest he always did as he paused, the sun dropping lower and casting his shadow long and dark against the pavement. A dog barked somewhere in the distance and pulled his eyes from the pinprick glows. He shook his head, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his civvies, and continued towards the bend in the path that would take him to the amphitheater.
“My scans show that your body is in need of sleep,” Cortana spoke, her always chipper voice soft. “Perhaps you should return to base? You need to rest.”
“I’m fine,” he grunted out.
Even though he would never outwardly admit it to her, the ache in his muscles from nights spent sleeping in his armor proved her right. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep with the ugly, visceral noises of battle still ringing in his ears. He didn’t want that to be what he heard as he fell asleep, or for it to be the sound of the dreams he now had since removing the pellet.
He kept a persistent pace as the sun dropped lower in the pinky evening skies. He stopped to watch the waters of the pond shimmer golden in the sunset, still reflecting the few clouds that hung overhead. A pair of geese sat on the surface, gliding steadily towards a small boy at the shore. He couldn’t have been older than six, his pant legs rolled to his knees as he waded out into the water with a slice of bread gripped in his small fist. John watched his little face squish with determination as he threw it with all of his might. The slice plopped in the water a few feet from where the geese swam. The twosome honked happily, gliding over and ripping apart the soggy snack. The boy let out a triumphant laugh, turning to where his mother and father stood on shore, a wide grin that lacked a few teeth splitting his face.
“Dad! Dad! Did ya see me?” He called, clumsily running from the water into the man’s outstretched arms.
The man chuckled, tossing the boy up onto his hip, unminding of the wet feet that dripped into his pant leg. “I saw, bud! Nice job!”
“I threw it so far and the gooses got it!”
“I saw!” The man confirmed again, returning his child’s excited smile with one that was nearly identical. John let out a chuckle at the boy’s excitement, that tug growing into a hollow feeling that sat heavy in his belly.
The boy’s mother joined them and the three chatted happily as they departed from the pond. On the waters, one goose bumped into the other, tugging gently at its feathers, the other letting out a honk as they glided away once more. John checked his watch before stepping toward the pond; he had a few minutes to spare before the performance began. He watched the geese slide across the water, one flapping its wings when the other dipped under the surface and exposed its pink feet.
“Would you like to know the species of goose? From the mottled gray and white plumage, I believe it is-.”
“You’re ruining it.” He said curtly. The AI let out an exasperated sigh at her interrupted fact before silencing once more. Somewhere near, a dog barked again. The geese took to the skies with a chorus of flapping wings and warning honks, the reflection on the water turning from pink to purple as dusk fell on the park. His eyes remained on the disrupted surface of the water and watched the rings where the geese sat ripple across the water.
“John!”
“No, Cortana.”
“John, I must insist-.”
“I said no, Cortana,” he growled.
She let out a disapproving sigh. “Fine, have it your way then. Get hit by the projectile incoming from behind you traveling at a speed of approximately-.”
“Heads up!”
He turned before the woman could shout out her warning, fingers curling around the projectile. A black and white dog bounded up to him with its brown eyes fixed upon his hand. It let out a whine before leaping straight up at an impressive height with its tongue lolling out of its mouth. He opened his palm to expose the bright orange rubber ball slick with saliva that had been moments away from pegging him in the back of his head. The dog followed his movement, letting out another begging whine, the tags on its collar jingling.
“Ooo, a border collie! We haven’t seen one of these before! They are a British breed of herding dog that hail from the Anglo-Saxton border on Earth. They are used mostly as sheep-herding or companion animals.”
The dog leapt up again, eyes still fixed upon the ball and ears twitching. He chuckled when it landed and stretched so that its tail stuck up straight to the dusky skies. It barked at him, a friendly sound, the animal’s whole rear end wiggling as it wagged its tail.
“Sorry!” The same voice called.
When John looked up from the dog, he found the owner jogging toward him across the grass. Her ponytail swished behind her, wisps of sweat-dampened strands clinging to her forehead and flushed, freckled cheeks. A red nylon leash was clipped neatly across her body, bouncing slightly with each step. Snug athletic clothes hugged the curve of her waist, all black save for the shockingly bright pink running shoes on her feet, scuffed at the toes from frequent use.
“Sorry, I guess I got carried away with that last throw.” The woman slowed as she neared him, offering a small, apologetic wave while still catching her breath. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and nodded toward the dog. “She isn’t bothering you, is she? I promise, she’s friendly. A little too friendly for her own good, really.”
He shook his head, the dog still watching him with desperate anticipation. “No, ma’am,” he said, holding up the ball. He'd seen others do this. Never understood the appeal. “May I?”
He expected her to move on. To excuse herself politely and carry on to whatever, or whoever, waited for her. The way she watched him was softer than he expected. Steady. Kind. He wasn’t used to people looking at him like that—like he was just a man standing beside a pond, not a soldier, not a weapon. The woman looked up at him, her head tilted, and smiled again—a bright, wide grin that crinkled her freckled nose.
Instead, she gestured toward the ball. “Be my guest. You’d be doing my arm a favor.”
He tossed the ball in his palm, the dog’s eyes tracked its every movement before finally throwing it. The dog took off in a sprint, its tags jingling merrily as it ran. The woman let out a low whistle, watching the ball sail across the field, bouncing nearly 40 yards away.
“Nice throw.”
“Thanks.”
“That’s Sadie. I’m Violet,” she said, holding out a hand. Her fingers were slim, her palm impossibly small compared to his own. He took it carefully, mindful of the difference in size, his calloused grip meeting her warm, softer one. Her green eyes flickered between his hand and his face, her smile unwavering—bright, open, utterly disarming. Something warm twisted in his chest, too full, too unfamiliar, and he dropped his gaze before it could settle there.
“You’re holding her hand too long, Chief.”
He dropped her hand and crossed his arms across his chest before his gaze returned to the pond. Green eyes joined his own to watch the reflection of the city on the water ripple in a series of rings.
“John.”
“Sorry we scared your friends away,” the woman said, looking over at him.
John raised an eyebrow, arms still crossed firmly against his chest. “What?”
“The geese,” she said, pointing to the spot in the pond the geese had departed from, the rippled water now smooth and glassy once again. She hugged herself as the cool breeze ruffled the trees again. “I noticed you were watching them before Sadie scared them off. She likes to chase them.”
“Oh,” he said with a nod. “No. That’s fine.”
A silence fell between the two again, Sadie finally reaching where the ball had touched down. The dog scooped it up, bounding back towards where they stood in a tired trot. John shifted, glancing down at the woman again, opening his mouth to speak. He closed it, unsure of what to say to the pretty woman beside him. She tucked a strand of rich brown hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear and whistled to calling the dog over. It reminded him of the foil wrapped chocolates that Doctor Keyes kept in a dish on her desk. She would push them towards the Spartans each time they would visit the lab for a med eval. Kai would always complain that they were too bitter, but Miranda would slide one to him with a knowing look. He never declined them, chalking it up to politeness until he found himself reaching for one without Keyes’ prompting during a visit to her lab.
“They’re fun to watch. The geese,” she clarified, the dog nearing them. “They’re cool animals really.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“They mate for life, you know. It’s pretty romantic,” she gave a little shrug, flashing that pretty smile at him again. “As far as birds go.”
“She’s right! They do! They are of the 3 to 5% of animals that are monogamous.”
“Cortana.”
“Sorry.”
He returned her smile. She still looked up at him with that smile; warm and bright and kind. He liked it. “I didn’t know that.”
Her face twisted with a pang of embarrassment and her tongue poked between her slightly before she let out a laugh that was just as pretty as the rest of her. It reminded him of a ringing bell; high and clear and musical. “Sorry. That was super weird and nerdy of me. I don't know why I said that. What a weird thing to say to a stranger.”
He chuckled. “No, it was interesting. I liked it.”
She pressed her hands to her cheeks, a slight pink flush creeping up her neck. Freckled shoulders still shook with that bright laughter. He liked her laugh.
“What I mean is,” she laughed, “it’s my favorite part of the park. The pond.”
“Yeah,” he agreed with a nod, the corners of his mouth still pulled up in amusement. “It’s…quiet.”
She nodded, an agreeing smile splitting her face. “It is.”
Sadie skidded to a halt in front of John and discarded the ball at his feet. The dog panted heavily, her rear still wiggling with excitement as she let out an expectant groan. Obviously uncaring of her overly exerted state, the dog nosed the ball towards him with a whine.
“I should get her home. It’s her dinner time,” Violet explained. She lifted the lead over her head and dropped to a knee. With a soft pat to her leg, Sadie sat beside her obediently and panted heavily while Violet clipped her lead back to her harness.
“Alright.”
“It was nice to meet you, John. Sorry again for nearly hitting you with a ball. And for the weird bird fact,” she finished with another pleasant giggle.
He smiled when Violet straightened up again. Her bangs fell in her eyes and he felt the strange urge to reach out and brush them away. Instead, he stuffed the odd thought down and kept his arms firmly crossed. “Anytime.”
Offering him a final soft smile, she knelt over and scooped the ball up. She whistled again before breaking into a jog, and Sadie trotted along at her side as they started to cross the field towards the street. John watched her hair swish as she jogged, like each bounce was keeping time with each step. She turned after a few steps to smile at him over her shoulder with a little wave. He returned it, feeling silly as he returned it with a small awkward smile back. Before he could fully turn back to the pond, Cortana’s voice filled his head.
“Chief, during your conversation with her, your body released high levels of dopamine and norepinephrine. Your heart rate increased and when you touched her hand, you began to perspire. I believe you are attracted to that woman!”
“Leave it alone, Cortana,” he responded. The street lamps flickered on as the sun ducked under the horizon, the pond reflecting the first glimmer of stars along with the window lights.
“You never let me have any fun. Anyhow, if you would still like to attend the performance, we should be on our way to the amphitheater. It begins in approximately five minutes.”
John pushed the sound of bell-like laughter from his mind, suddenly reminded of his original mission in attending the park. He turned over his shoulder and swallowed the lump in his throat that had formed when he saw her jog across the field towards him, his feet carrying back towards the walking paths. With a final glance, he looked towards the direction in which she and Sadie had trotted off to search for the bounce of her ponytail on the empty sidewalk. But she was already gone, the sidewalk empty of bright pink running shoes and a far too tired dog and instead filled with civilians returning home for the evening as they rushed by. For the second time that night, his eyes returned to the illuminated windows, and this time, he wondered if one of those lights had beckoned her home as well.
Spring in Tchakova Park
Read on AO3
Master List
Chapter Playlist & 2
Summary: Green was the color of the grass where he used to walk in Tchakova Park.
In which John meets a stranger in the park, Violet learns of the care and keeping of Spartans, and Cortana offers dating advice. (Complete 5/7/24)
Chapter Summary: Violet learns the full scope of the system repairs needed, and has a tough conversation.
Chapter Twenty Nine: The Scarf
Doctor Devrin Roshni Johal could eat a giant bag of Spartan-sized dicks. And he could choke on every single last one as far as Violet was concerned. After spending four days cleaning up the mess he had made out of Persephone, she was ready to force feed them to him herself.
Violet grit her teeth as she looked over the diagnostic results of the most recent calibration. All results had come back the same after the day of work spent beside her team in the greenhouses. She had spent hours undoing all of the corrective work Dev had done to try to bring the systems back online before he had finally swallowed the enormous pill that was his pride and reached out to her for help. The corrections had done more damage than good she had found, and from her conversations with the team, had also found that he had been warned against it by all of them. Typical Devrin, she thought. Always has to be the smartest asshole in the room.
Yet, she would be lying if she didn’t admit that it was the most she had enjoyed her work in months as she as they worked in the small space, laughing at Bastian and Saul’s jokes and being disgusted by Meredith’s stories as Jin tuned them all out and Lief explained the campaigns he had planned for the fantasy roleplay game they used to all play together on Thursdays. The greenhouses she oversaw at FLEETCOM were three times the size of the ones she had attended to during her four years at Demeter, but the massive structures had lacked the same heart that Violet felt as she worked along the team the rest of the base had nicknamed Geek Squad a few years back. Each one of them had made her a better scientist, and she loved all of them like family. Leaving them had been the hardest part when she went back to Reach.
Violet paced the rows of low planters that should have been filled with green as she looked over the results. She couldn’t bring herself to look down as she paced to the boxes of soil by her feet. She hadn’t seen them empty in years. Each row of brown twisted her chest as she passed them, a relic to her failure that had left them empty. She wished she had never left as she allowed herself a quick glance down. She could have prevented this if she had. This system had been her baby. She should have been here to care for it rather than leaving it to a negligent caretaker. There had been a time she had thought she would never leave. Back in those early weeks on Reach, she had even considered going back.
She swallowed down the lump that began to form in her throat as she reached the opposite end of the empty greenhouse and stopped. She turned and looked over the barren planters as she lowered her pad and pushed out the dread that threatened to settle in her, taking a deep breath. She didn’t have time to cry- she had too much shit to do.
She swiped up the volume bar on her pad, the gritty rock playlist she had selected for the night blaring through the speaker system of the empty structure. The team had broken for dinner hours ago at Violet’s instruction. They all worked tirelessly over the past four days; up at the crack of dawn to head into the greenhouses until far after the sun dipped below the horizon. Violet would stay long past after they all returned to their rooms in the installation to continue her work. John would visit her once everyone left, providing her with his silent comfort as she volleyed between ionic generators on the catwalks that lined the ceilings. She had teased him relentlessly after his meddling to attend with her, but in the nights they had spent together with John silently watching as she worked, she couldn’t imagine being there without him. His presence tethered her, grounding her to herself in that steady way she had come to depend upon. She never felt more at peace. More like herself than she did in those moments that they sat in their silence and said absolutely nothing.
The rest of the team would come with him sometimes; Riz would sit and read while Kai and Vannak bickered and found things to distract themselves with. Occasionally, Vannak would shout out something she was doing wrong, and Violet would stick her tongue out and make the adjustment rather than admit he had been correct. Violet only smiled as she listened to the four of them; she had always wanted more siblings. Especially a brother.
Violet tucked her pad into the waistband of her pants and started up the rickety metal ladder to the catwalks. Night had fallen outside the panes of the structure, the arid desert temperatures dropping as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon. It remained sticky warm in the greenhouses as she worked. Violet shed her long sleeve for the tank top she wore underneath. Each step filled the empty structure with metallic ringing that echoed through it over her music.
She stepped up onto the platform and pulled out her pad as she neared the ionic generators that Lief and Bastian had left open when they returned to the installation that evening. The generators didn’t look like much to an outsider; both no bigger than an average suitcase. But both acted as the catalyst for the ionic bonding that would bring plants sprouting from the soil in a matter of minutes. They laid open under the glow of the fluorescent lights like the bellies of some dissected animal, wires and parts exposed to her as she looked over them. She had no formal engineering training. That had always been Lief and Bastian’s area of expertise. But, she had enough understanding of the systems she had devoted her mid twenties to as her eyes scanned over the scramble of machinery.
She blew her bangs out of her face, wisps of hair that had escaped from the crown she had woven her hair into sticking to her face in the humidity of the structure. John had joked that she emulated the goddess the project was named after the night before when he visited her in the greenhouse, tugging gently at her bangs that had begun to grow too long. She had shrugged off the compliment and explained that she just needed her hair out her face with a smile. She looked over the diagnostic results again, identifying which sections of renderings of the generators on her screen glowed a bright red before her hands sunk into the first generator.
“Goose!”
The rich timbre of his voice cut over the blare of her music. Violet didn’t need to look up to know that John stood below her. She continued to sort through the wires, double checking that each had been correctly placed in accordance with rendering. She glanced down to where he stood, still fully armored, a plate in hand as he stared up at her with a tinge of disappointment in his hazel eyes. She glanced at the time on her pad and braced herself for the lecture she knew would come with the late hour.
“I know, I missed dinner,” she called down. “I just need fifteen more minutes.”
“You need to eat, Goose.”
“I’ll eat when they can eat,” she muttered out. Her fingers came into contact with one of the wires and a sharp jolt ran up her arm. She let go of it with a gasp and shook out her tingling hand, “Fuck!”
John looked up at her and shook his head, “Didn’t realize that being a botanist made you a mechanical engineer as well.”
“What can I say,” she said, hands delving back into the machine again, “You chose a woman of many talents. Lucky you.”
“Lucky me,” he agreed, “Get down here and eat. Meredith sent me with your dinner.”
“Just leave it. I’ll eat when I’m done. Why don’t you head to bed, baby, I’ll-.”
“Violet,” he interrupted, his voice the authoritative rumble that made it a command instead of a request. “Don’t ‘baby’ me. Get down here. Now.”
Violet leaned over the edge of the catwalk to meet his hard unwavering stare. He tilted his head in direction to the spot in front of him, making it clear that he was uninterested in repeating himself. Violet sighed, feet clanging against metal as she trudged back to the ladder and made her descent down the rungs. John stepped to the base of the ladder and pressed a hand to her back to steady her. He took her by the waist as she got to the fifth rung from the bottom and lifted her gently, setting her down in front of him and holding the plate out to her.
She took the plate from him, snatching up the fork that rested on it and jabbing it at him with a pointed look. “Don’t use your Master Chief voice with me.”
“I’ll stop using it when it stops working,” he smirked, “Eat.”
Violet rolled her eyes and stabbed at the now cold food. She ate at a speed that she was sure was unattractive to watch as she realized how hungry she was. When was the last time she ate? Lunch? No… breakfast maybe? Jesus, that had been over twelve hours ago, she thought. Maybe he had a point. John watched with a smug look as she shoveled down the food.
“How was Meredith?” she asked through a full mouth.
John sighed. She smiled slightly at the thought of him interacting with Meredith, who seemed to be even more feral than usual when confronted in her natural habitat. “She was Meredith,” he said carefully.
“Oof, that bad?”
“She asked about Vannak’s situation,” he sighed. Violet covered her mouth as she chuckled at her friend’s brash lack of tact, “Riz handled it.”
“I’m sure she did,” Violet laughed, unsurprised that her friend was already sniffing out ways to get her own Spartan, too. She brought the last forkful to her mouth and held the plate back out to him, “There. I ate. I need fifteen more minutes and then I’ll head out for the night. Okay? I promise. I love you, goodnight.”
She pressed a kiss to her fingers and touched his cheek, unable to reach his jaw with the additional height his armor gave him. She turned away from him to move back towards the ladder, but John caught her by the back of her shirt and tugged her back to him.
“It’s 10:30, Violet. You’re not going to accomplish anything further tonight. You need to eat, shower, and get some rest,” he held his hand out, “And give me the damn pad. Cortana told me you’re working in bed. That’s an order.”
She glowered up at him, but John continued to hold his hand out expectantly. She sighed as she relented and set her pad into his palm, “Tell Cortana she’s a snitch. She can make it up to me by helping me out tomorrow night if I still haven’t gotten anywhere.”
“I’ll pass the message along,” he chuckled, “Any luck with the repairs?”
“No,” she sighed. “Dev’s ‘repairs’ made it a bigger fucking mess than I expected. So now it's a full rebuild of the system instead of just a few fixes. I never should have left him to oversee it- he never believed in this work quite liked the rest of us. I should have stayed here and seen this through. It's my fault that we’re in this position in the first place; if I had stayed, the system would still be running, those people wouldn’t be going hungry.”
She turned towards the empty planters again, staring out at the tilled soil. She blinked back tears and sniffled as she wiped her face with the heel of her palm. John’s gloved fingers followed the path of her own as he wiped the streak of grime she had left behind from her cheek.
“Don’t say that.”
“They were depending on me, John,” she whispered, her voice shaking.
“There’s always going to be people who need you, Vi,” he said gently, cupping her face in his hand. She leaned into the touch, wishing she felt the warmth of his skin on her own rather than the scratch of his gloves. “You can’t get hung up on each one.”
“Do you?”
“I save who I can. I can’t afford to get hung up on the ones I couldn’t.”
His curt words hung between them, painfully serious as they slipped from his tongue. Violet heard the emotion that laced his tone like a footnote. She wondered just how many he had been unable to save and if it haunted him the way this did her. She had found the weight she carried the past few weeks to be heavier than she had thought herself to carry, but she realized as she looked up at him in that green armor how insignificant it was compared to the one he burdened. If he could shoulder the galaxy, she could surely shoulder this. Maybe he could be her strength, too. Her fingers curled around the cool metal of his gauntlet as she met those soft eyes.
“I’m glad you’re here, big guy,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his palm. John leaned down to press his brow to hers, Violet’s hands finding his face as her eyes fluttered shut and she felt at home for the first time in days.
“Me too, Goose.”
---
Her tiny room in the installation made her miss their apartment more than she already had. She couldn’t fathom how she had lived in the room as long as she did, much less with a dog. Her college dorms had been bigger than the room she had once called home. Violet sat on the twin bed as she towel dried her hair, steam still billowing out of the bathroom door. John had been right. She felt like she was wearing a new skin after showering all of the grime off of her. She tossed the towel over the back of the chair of the desk that sat in the corner before rising from the bed. She had a difficult time sleeping in it; the small bed felt too big without him beside her and the room was too quiet without the sound of both his and Sadie’s synchronized snoring. The goodnight kiss they had shared in the privacy of the greenhouses hadn’t been enough. She considered sneaking off to the Condor to sleep with him for the night rather than occupying her own room. She couldn’t wait to go home.
She gave her damp hair a quick shake with her fingers as she crossed the room to the door. The door opened into the communal space they all shared; a modest rec room and kitchen they prepared their meals in. Their rooms lined the space, a single corridor leading to the labs and the doors that spit them out in front of the greenhouses. She had spent many nights with the team in the mismatched sofas, happy memories flooding back to her as she stepped out of her room. Saul and Lief sat on the sofa that faced the entertainment center with gaming console controllers in hand as they stared up at the screen. Meredith sat with her feet tucked under her on the other side of it in her pajamas, tapping at her pad vigorously. Violet recognized the sounds of gunfire and alien grunts as she stepped towards the kitchen. The sound made her shoulders tense.
“Can you two find something else to play?” she called, pulling the refrigerator door open in search of a snack before she turned in. She picked up a glass jar of pink liquid that appeared homemade and took a curious sniff, recoiling at the acidic fermented smell before returning it to the shelf.
“The kombucha in there is Bastian’s. He labeled it. Don’t drink it,” Saul called, eyes not leaving the screen as his Spartan avatar blasted the head off of a Sangheili.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to,” she grimaced, pushing the bottle to the side. “Seriously, turn it off. It’s rude that you’re playing it with them on base.”
“What? You never had a problem with us playing Spartan Attack before,” Lief called in his lilting accent.
“She wasn’t boning one then,” Meredith purred, slipping off of the couch and turning towards her own room with a wicked grin.
“Meredith…” Violet sighed. The game paused suddenly and both men whirled around in their seats to face her.
“Holy shit, really?” Saul gasped, Lief’s jaw still slack beside him. “I knew the armed escort was fucking weird! Not to say you aren’t special to us, Vi, but seriously? A botanist being escorted by four fucking Spartans? Which one?”
Violet forced back her smirk as she continued to pick through the fridge. She gave up on her hunt and turned to the cabinets instead to swipe out the bag of granola Meredith kept stashed there. “That’s none of your business. And if I was, it still wouldn’t make a difference. It’s tasteless. It’s not a game; it’s their lives. Find something else to play until we leave.”
“Oh come on! Which one?”
“I’m not saying!”
“So you admit it; you are dating a Spartan! Holy shit, Violet! Which one?”
Meredith breezed out of her room, her pajamas replaced with a sweatshirt and leggings as she tugged on her sneakers, “She’s fucking the Master Chief. They live together. He’s the one who broke Johal’s wrist.”
Violet inhaled sharply at the pandemonium that followed Meredith’s statement. Both men shouted at her excitedly.
“That motherfucker said he fell down the stairs!”
Meredith only snickered as she started down the hallway to the door and returned the vulgar gesture Violet made in her direction. She turned back to the men, “Turn it off. I’m serious.”
Both men settled back onto the couch, their moment of excitement interrupted by her hard glare. Lief clicked out of the game to the queue to select another game from the list of dozens downloaded. Violet watched Meredith slip through the door and nod to someone in acknowledgement as they took the door from her. Greg slipped in after her, smiling at Violet as he started down the hallway towards her. Violet offered him a tight smile. She hadn’t had a chance to speak with him privately since they had arrived, but she had noticed the excited way he smiled at her every time they interacted, that bit of hope still in his eyes. She had been dreading this conversation the entire week.
“Fine. Pressure Washer Simulator it is, then,” Lief called. Violet watched as the screen changed to the image of the wands of twin pressure washers, both men clicking on their controllers to spray digitized moss off the side of a gazebo.
Violet scoffed at the ridiculous image, both men glued to the screen, “Jesus Christ. You know, for two highly intelligent men, you’re a couple of idiots.”
Greg glanced at the screen as he approached and shared an amused head shake with Violet. Saul sprayed off a clump of moss, “Don’t shit on my pressure washing, Doc.”
“Yeah, Violet,” Lief agreed. “When I pressure wash, I feel God’s pleasure.”
“Idiots.”
Violet watched as Greg came to stop at the end of the hallway with that same grin she had come to expect from him over the past four years. It’s presence had become a constant in her life in the same way he had. Her friend, her confidant, her shoulder to cry on. And boy, had she cried. He had been there the same way Meredith had through Dev, ready to lend an ear to whatever their latest bullshit was with that patience and some dry joke that would make her laugh and snap her out of whatever mood she was in. She had sometimes felt like he was the only person who just got her. Maybe that had been why she had agreed when he made her that deal. He understood her in a way no one ever had before until that day with a stranger in the park.
Greg tilted his head towards the exit, “You got a few minutes?”
Violet nodded, “I do. I think I owe you a catch up.”
He smiled again and pointed towards the greenhouses, “Meet me in our usual spot?”
She looked out to the roof of the greenhouses, recalling the nights they had spent upon the tops of them talking. It seemed only fitting to her to return to them a final time for this conversation. She nodded again and mumbled something about meeting him there before turning to grab a sweater from her room and pull the tactical scarf from her chair.
He was already waiting for her as she climbed the ladder to the roof, eyes turned to the sky, and she carefully stepped across the polycarbonate panes to where he sat. It felt familiar as she walked towards him. Every night they had spent up there together flooded back into her memory just like seeing the guys sitting in the rec room had. Every tearfilled conversation about Dev, the laughter they had shared, that conversation on her 30th birthday and the nights they had shared after. He had taken all of her broken pieces and carefully placed them back together after Devrin shattered her. She never would have made it to John if it hadn’t been for the man who came before him.
Violet lowered herself down onto the slanted roof, using his shoulder for balance as she sat down. Greg reached to take the hand that rested on his shoulder to give her fingers a quick squeeze before Violet pulled it away. She didn’t meet his eyes as she did so. She already felt like a big enough asshole for leaving him high and dry like she did; his last message to her still sat unread in her inbox awaiting the answer that she couldn’t bring herself to give him without looking him in the eyes.
Violet watched the base below them, her eyes resting on the Condor that sat on the tarmac. She wondered if John was having a shit time sleeping without her, too. A familiar shadow tromped across the sands, blonde curls bouncing under the floodlights of one of the guard towers. Meredith knocked on the aluminum door of a CHU and the door cracked wide enough to let her slip in. Violet turned to Greg with a knowing smirk, “Same guy still in there?”
He chuckled, “Yep.”
“She must have worked her way through her usual roster then.”
Greg bumped his shoulder against hers, “I knew you botanists love to recycle, but she sure takes it to a whole other level.”
Violet tried to stifle her laugh. The winds tossed dust into her eyes, “That’s mean.”
“You laughed,” he chuckled, shrugging. “Which makes you meaner.”
Violet laughed and her eyes fell on the Condor again. She noticed Greg’s eyes drop to the length of weathered fabric that she twisted nervously in her hands. He tried to hide his smile and Violet felt sick. God, she was such an asshole. Kai had teased her relentlessly since they left about the broken hearts she had left behind and Violet had tried to mask her guilt. Greg cleared his throat, “So, you going to fill me in on your great adventure?”
She swallowed, her eyes not leaving the ship. She remembered what she had told John that night in bed as she told him about the Ranger in the photograph; ‘There isn’t a single part of me that doesn’t belong to you, big guy. You’re stuck with me.’ She had meant it. Every fiber of her was meant to love him from that very first evening. She couldn’t think of a better place to be than stuck with her John.
“I was actually hoping to talk to you about something first,” she said gently. She took his hand and set the scarf into it. Greg gave her a sad, knowing smile, that hope she had seen all week dissipating. Violet offered him a small smile in return, “You told me that if I met someone to come back and give it back to you on my birthday. But only if I knew I had found him.”
Violet closed his fingers around the scarf he had given her the night before she left for Reach, “I’m a year early.”
Greg nodded and looked at the Condor with a sigh. “I figured. I saw it all over your face the moment you got off that ship,” he shook his head and let out a crestfallen chuckle, “Damn, I only had to wait another year…almost made it.”
“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you sooner.”
Greg offered her a forlorn smile, “You found him?”
“I did,” she returned his smile. She hadn’t doubted it for a moment.
“What a lucky son of a bitch,” Greg chuckled, shaking his head as he looked back to the ship, “You’re sure he’s the one?”
She smiled and nodded, confirming what she had known from that first moment by the pond. There hadn’t been a doubt in her mind since that first day. “Yeah. He is.”
What’s his name, Sunshine?”
“John.”
“John,” he repeated. His smile didn’t hide the sadness in his eyes. Violet couldn’t help but feel guilty as she pulled her eyes from him, “That’s a good name. My dad’s name. Is he good to you?”
Christ, she couldn’t even tell him the half of it. The very best; as if he had been made just for her. There weren’t words to describe it, so she settled with, “He is.”
“Good. You’re happy?”
Violet thought back on the past eight months. Of every moment she spent with him. There hadn’t been a single moment of anything but happiness, even at their worst. She hoped for a lifetime of that happy. She hoped that her friend would find that same happy, too. Violet nodded, “I am.”
“That’s all I wanted for you,” he nodded. Greg drew his knees up, pressing his heels into the roof to keep from sliding. Violet brushed the dust from her face as another gust of wind kicked across the roof. Greg tossed the scarf back over her head, carefully wrapping it the way he had taught her to keep the dust out of her nose and mouth. “Keep it. It always looked better on you.”
Violet smiled, silence falling between the two of them as they both looked out at the ship. Greg let out another low chuckle, “So, Violet Harris and the Master Chief, huh? How the fuck did that happen?”
Violet laughed, “I almost hit him with Sadie’s ball.”
“You always did have shit aim,” he laughed, Violet giving her friend’s shoulder a shove before resting her head upon it.
“Tell me about him.”
Chapter 22 - Date Night - Start of Something Good
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
