Celeste

“I made your bosses cry the other day.” Celeste said.

She was sitting in bed with her legs crossed, her tablet in her lap. She kept trying to scroll through all of her work, but there were a few blue prints missing. She didn’t have access to them.

“I heard you did more than that.” Dri said. “Thanks to you, a lot of sectors went on standby.”

“That’s great. You get another mini vacation.” She was excited for him.

For some reason he just seemed more tired. He got into bed next to her but he just pulled the blanket over his body. He’s been exhausted for a while now. Going back to work wasn’t all fun and games for him.

He’s had years to get used to the awful hours, the sleepless days and nights, the constant push of his physical and mental health. He just never got there. So right now he was grateful for the mini vacation.

“Aurora took my blue prints.”

“Someone has to stop you.” Dri wasn’t surprised.

“I mean, I wasn’t going to do anything with it.” Celeste didn’t think she had to keep making that clear. “It’s not my fault that all I needed was a blue print to trick them-”

“But you actually did it, right? Made a blue print for something that could kill more than eighty-percent of their soldiers?” Dri heard the rumor quickly.

He wasn’t the only one. It’s been going around that someone immediately stopped the war within twenty minutes. He figured Celeste did it, but he heard it from other soldiers who heard it from other soldiers who heard it from officials form International Affairs.

“I...did.” she didn’t lie about it. She definitely finished the blue print

Dri sighed quietly. He couldn’t be shocked. As he looked up at Celeste, he realized that she only ever had good intentions when she did something. She says she never means to cause trouble, but that’s all she does.

She couldn’t help it.

“Stop staring at me. I didn’t do anything wrong.” Celeste said.

“We can discuss that.” Dri turned over to continue staring at her. Celeste wasn’t interested, she just rolled her eyes. “Please.” he begged her. “You’re going to kill me.” He was always stressed out because she was such an anxious person when dealing with stress.

“Okay,” she started as she moved her hair behind her ears, “I cannot promise that some crazy shit won’t happen.” She said. “But, it won’t always happen because of me.”

“I’ll take that.” Dri let out a sigh as he looked away, wanting to turn over again and sleep. But he continued to stare at her because he wanted to.

She didn’t stare back, but she knew he was staring at her. “Since you’re not busy, I have your new arm.” she said plainly, remembering that she had to install it after the upgrade.

Dri was surprised. The only reason she mentioned engineering a new arm for him was because of what happened before when Aurora put his system over hers. Then she learned that truth, that Aurora thought the system was lagging just a bit, enough for him to have a good excuse to gain access. Dri didn’t think Celeste would let that hurt her but she’s been bitter ever since

“You did not have to make a new arm just because your dad said some mean words-”

She looked over at him quickly. “This one’s not ‘lagging’.” She said, then she glanced away and muttered, “don’t tell me my shit doesn’t work properly-”

“I like the one I have.”

“Everything has to be upgraded. That’s the world we live in.” Celeste didn’t sound that sorry despite Dri wanting to keep the arm he has. “Don’t worry. It still has everything you like.” She smiled at him as she rubbed his hair. She knew he would pout about the one he has now.

He was lucky to have her make it for him. He hasn’t had a prosthetic like it before. This was the one he wanted to keep. Sometimes it glowed when he was around her. He liked that. She knew that, and she wasn’t going to take that away from him.

She continued to work on her tablet quietly, her other hand still rubbing in his hair. He should be sleeping, but he wasn’t going to see her later in the day. He has been spending a lot more time with her lately.

He knew why. He just didn’t want to ask Celeste if she was okay again.

He realized that Celeste was staring at a blank screen on her tablet earlier. She was staring for a long time, too. There was no information for her to look at, but she stared at it for some time before she decided to change it.

Dri knew she was waiting for Zinnia’s information to load but it wasn’t going to.

Her implant was removed recently.

Now Celeste was waiting, hoping the information would refresh and show up but it won’t. It took her so long to let go. Just changing the screen was heart breaking, but at least she did it. Dri knew it was going to take time. Celeste would still have that hole in her heart, but it was going to get better. Celeste wasn’t drowning in self pity.

She wasn’t feeling sorry for herself.

She did everything she could, and now it was time for her to move on. So now she chose to work on so many different projects to keep her occupied. Dri was going to help keep her busy as well.

“How’s your job?” He’s already heard plenty of stories every day because Celeste desperately needed someone to talk to about it.

“It’s nice to know I’m not the only one getting excited about particle scramblers or power sources that uses energy at a hundred percent without by products.” She said, but Dri stared at her blankly. “Or you know, exploring the Galaxy system and what else is out there.”

She belonged in space. She wasn’t going to shut up about it until she was out there.

“You’re going out there?” Dri was curious.

“Yeah.” She smiled. She was excited to be out in space. “We might be able to coordinate our days off.” she was already thinking about it, planning their work days so they might be off together

“I’m off today.”

“Well, I actually planned to go to work today.” She knew what he was implying, though she was feeling generous. She leaned closer to him. “I can give you an hour or two.”

“Lunch?”

That sounded nice. Celeste thought about it for a second. Clearly she had her mind on something else and they could discuss -not really talk- about it in a moment. She remembered that she had to be somewhere today.

“I’m going to see Clover’s mom today. My parents desperately need to be seen.” She said, more concerned about her parents than herself at the moment.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“Aurora called me at two in the morning to tell me Sirus is wandering around.” It didn’t sound like a serious issue, but to her it was. “I just want to make sure they’re okay.”

“Sirus always wandered around.” Dri rolled his eyes. “I could never find him when I actually needed him.”

Was he glad to be on his own now? All the yelling wasn’t something he missed. He wasn’t sure if it was for his own good or not, but all that yelling definitely happened. But there was a crutch missing. Dri could feel it.

He was completely responsible for one hundred and fifty people.

That was stressful.

“I can see why.” Dri said to himself, realizing that he would wander around, too.

“No. That’s him avoiding work. What he’s doing now, just walking around and not knowing what he wants to do, that’s not like him. He doesn’t do that.” Celeste didn’t like that it was happening.

“He’s probably bored.”

Celeste looked up for a second. That was definitely a reason why her father was out and about. He was lost. This was the first time he hasn’t had much to do and he has all that time to do whatever he wants. After so many years, he has no idea what to do. Celeste almost felt sorry for him. How long has he constantly been doing something everyday without a break?

“With Aurora around? I doubt it.” she went back to staring at her tablet. “Those two fight like it’s no one’s business and they’ve been doing that shit for a long while.” she said.

“I still don’t believe they’re together.”

“Thirty-three years.” Celeste began to smile.

If she ever got the chance to tell people that her parents have been together for thirty-three years, she tells them. She brags about it. It’s such a nice thing to say. She hoped that she could be with someone like that.

She didn’t want to get her hopes up, but would Dri stay with her for that long?

“That’s a long time to be yelled at.” Dri shook his head.

“Yeah, it is.” She continued to smile to herself now.

It wasn’t always yelling. They weren’t always fighting. Celeste knew it was more than that. They got on each other’s nerves but they more than tolerated each other. Celeste would be oblivious, but the things they did for each other was amazing. No one else knows except them. And Celeste, if she was lucky to see.

Dri had a feeling there was a lot he didn’t see.

And if Celeste was smiling like that, it just means it was something good.

Celeste walked outside when she wanted to take a break. Her shifts were long but she was having fun. She liked her new job, it was making her happy to be surrounded by people like her.

Aurora found out she was working for Hariette and he had to see her in the uniform.

She didn’t think it was that special. She wore a white blouse with ruffles around the collar and a black silk tie. Her black pants were high waisted, and she wore black boots to match. She had a silver badge she could clip to her tie, but she usually takes it off when she’s leaving. She didn’t know what was so special about the uniform. It was cute, and matched her aesthetics, but other than that, she didn’t know what was so special.

She remembered that Sirus told her she looks like Aurora when he was younger, when he worked here. She’s seen an old I.D. photo of Aurora while in the uniform -she can’t tell him she found it- and she had to admit that she did look like him.

Should she tell him? He was coming to see her, so he was going to find out.

The air was cold and crisp, how it usually was during the winter. Celeste was wearing her dark coat over her uniform. She was tempted to take down her hair to cover her ears, but she stopped when she saw her parents standing together outside.

Sirus had his arms around Aurora, his face pressed into his white hair. It was cold outside, Aurora was complaining about it, saying he was still cold despite Sirus having his arms around him. Sirus ignored him.

Celeste went over to them, and the second Aurora saw her, he pushed Sirus away from him so he could get a good look at her.

“Oh my God.” He smiled as he looked at her in her uniform. He was so excited to see her, and there was nothing that made him happier than knowing she was doing something she loved. He liked how she looked, too. “It suits you.” he said. Celeste mashed her lips together to hide her smile. She was blushing. “Look at her, Sirus-”

“I can see her.” Sirus didn’t like that Aurora grabbed him. “It’s just a uniform.”

But he was the one saying she looked just like Aurora when he was younger.

“I got one of those space suits, too.” Celeste said, just as excited. “Hariette’s letting me go up to space to work on the satellites.”

“She only lets competent people touch her satellites so be proud of that.” Aurora said, remembering how he got yelled at multiple times for messing with the satellites’ programs.

Hariette was still as picky as always.

It was no surprise to him.

“I heard you stepped all over Britain the other day.” Sirus said.

“I did actually.” Celeste wasn’t ashamed of how it happened. Could she have done it a different way? Probably, but she didn’t have enough time to found out how. She was brutal. “You should’ve seen them, they looked horrified.” she laughed.

Sirus laughed, too. He could only imagine how it happened. Aurora was quick to hit his arm however.

Both of them had a bad habit of encouraging bad behavior.

“What?” Sirus flinched from the pain, rubbing his arm because Aurora can hit hard, even now. “She said she was going to threaten them and it worked-”

“You knew?” Aurora stared at him with wide eyes.

“What’s the big deal? Britain gets their ass whipped and everything is great now. Problem solved.” He thought this was much safer than what she pulled off the first time.

That was different.

Celeste agreed with Sirus. “That’s what I said.”

“You know she created a biological weapon, right? She threatened to kill thousands of their soldiers.” Aurora said to him.

“No.” Sirus looked around. “I didn’t know all that.” he said, but he still didn’t seem bothered. “Sounds like dumb shit you’d do.” Sirus nudged him and Aurora slapped his hand away.

He definitely didn’t like hearing that from him.

Sirus couldn’t figure out why he was so upset. “But it seems like everything is handled now. You shouldn’t be complaining.”

Aurora continued to stare at him, and Sirus stared back. Aurora was the one to break first. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to find a reason to not yell at Sirus. Him agreeing with this wasn’t surprising. Sirus didn’t say anything out loud when Aurora looked away, but he gestured to Celeste. He was proud of her.

She ended a war all by herself. Though it was her work that started it. But still, she took care of things and she did it rather well.

Celeste smiled, but she quickly hid her expression when Aurora looked at her. She didn’t want to give Sirus away.

“So, um,” she cleared her throat so she wouldn’t laugh. “Harlow said she can see you two today.”

“For what?” Aurora was confused.

Celeste was sure she told them both that Harlow was going to check them out sometime this week. They needed to see a doctor, she was worried about how forgetful they were and this proved her point.

“Okay, stay here.” Celeste said and turned around quickly, running inside.

She clearly couldn’t let them leave on their own.

She had to go with them to their doctor’s appointment. She just wanted to make sure that them forgetting things isn’t something crazy, and Harlow was nice enough to clear her schedule for the day.

“I’m cold.” Aurora said to Sirus, tugging at his coat.

“Okay-”

“Can I wear it for a bit?-”

“I told you to put something else on earlier and you didn’t listen to me.” Sirus shrugged away from him. “I’m cold, too. You’re not special.”

Aurora frowned as he looked at Sirus. He didn’t want to have to say that he was cold again. Sirus looked at him, too, and at first he didn’t budge. But just as he moved his arms, Aurora got close to him, his arms wrapping around him inside his coat.

Now it was warm.

Aurora could feel Sirus press his face in his hair as he brought him closer. Usually Aurora hated public displays of affection, but they were older. No one was going to care.

“Oh! Me too!” They heard Celeste coming, and no second later did she try to squeeze in with them. She was too big to be doing that, but they didn’t care. They hugged her, too.

“Thank you for seeing us. I know it was short notice.” Celeste said. She was sitting on the exam table, kicking her feet around.

Harlow was kind enough to give Celeste her time after a concerning phone call a few days ago. She thought it was an emergency, especially with how Celeste was freaking out. But she realized that's how Celeste is as a person. She could give anyone anxiety.

“It’s not too much trouble. I can always make space for you.” Harlow smiled. She was thankful it wasn't an emergency.

She saw the two that were sitting together. Like usual, Aurora looked pleasant. He was always happy to see Harlow. Though he couldn’t figure out why Celeste dragged them here. Sirus, on the other hand, did not want to be here, and it happens every time.

“What’s been going on?” Harlow asked them.

Sirus was about to answer but Celeste cut him off quickly. “So he’s been a little forgetful lately.” Celeste said.

“Is this true?” Harlow looked at Sirus.

“No.” Sirus answered.

“He had a doctor’s appointment a few weeks ago and he forgot about it.” Celeste said as proof.

“Well, he doesn’t really like seeing anyone.” Aurora said.

It’s always a struggle to get Sirus to get checked out medically. It was no surprise to Aurora that Sirus was resistant. Celeste didn’t think it was the same. There was definitely something wrong.

“But he told me he forgot. If he remembered and chose not to go, then I can understand, but he said he forgot.” Celeste explained.

“Sirus?” Harlow wanted him to speak.

“I’m fine.” He didn’t want to be here.

“Sometimes you wander around.” Aurora reminded him. Sirus just rolled his eyes and looked away. “I think he’s bored.” He said to Harlow. “He doesn’t usually have nothing to do.”

“I’m fine.” Sirus said again.

“I believe you.” Harlow agreed. “I think I’d be more concerned if you were telling me that he’s forgetting more important things, but he’s fine. We forget things.” She laughed. Celeste was a little more relieved to know that it wasn’t a big deal.

If Harlow wasn’t worried, then that’s a good thing.

“We are old.” Aurora smiled.

“Believe it or not, we don’t consider your age old.” Harlow said. “Trust me, in another thirty years, you’ll definitely understand.” She continued to laugh. “How have you been, Aurora?”

“Just fine." he answered with a smile on her face.

“Not sleeping.” Celeste didn't want Harlow to be tricked. Aurora can be a good liar. Even if today he was in a good mood, that might not be the same for tomorrow. “He has a habit of being up at three in the morning-”

Aurora sighed. He couldn't help the fact that he doesn't sleep. “So? I go to bed early sometimes."

“Are you tired during the day?” Harlow asked.

“Not really...”

“How about mentally? Are you still seeing your psychiatrist?”

“Oh, Phoebe retired years ago.” Aurora didn’t seem bothered. Harlow sighed. She figured that he wouldn’t have a reason to go. He’s only had one psychiatrist, and he was adamant about keeping it that way.

Harlow almost wanted to lecture him on how important it was to keep up with his mental health but he didn’t want to hear it.

“I don’t think I want to reexplain all of my issues. That’s just way too much.” He already came to that conclusion. “I’m not doing it again.”

“You’re not stressed.”

He always waits for people to ask that question. His eyes brighten up and he smiles wide when he hears it. He loves answering that question. “No.” he said it with such an excitement.

Harlow knew, however. She’s been trying to have a meeting with him and other departments but he continues to reschedule it, but he’s never going to allow it to happen. He was stress free and it’s the first time that’s it’s happened in a long time.

Harlow just nodded, thinking to herself. She was tempted to ask to see his profile, but she has a feeling that Aurora was going to keep it to himself. Regardless, he was doing much better.

“Are you forgetful as well?”

“I don’t think so. Someone has to be around to remember Sirus is wandering around more-”

Sirus didn’t like that. “Hey-”

“I know, you’re fine.” Aurora didn’t believe him but said it to have him settle down.

Harlow turned to look at Celeste. She didn’t think Celeste had to worry so much about them. They were fine. She figured they were just being a little difficult, but that wasn’t surprising. Harlow smiled at her and Celeste sighed.

“How have you been, Celeste?” She wondered how she was. She’s heard Celeste went through a lot recently. Must’ve been difficult to handle.

“Literally hanging on by a thread.” She answered truthfully.

“Well, I saw your profile, and you’re still in a normal range.” Harlow informed her. “I’m not worried about you, neither is your doctor. A little anxiety isn’t going to kill anyone.” she said.

“Good, because everyone thought I had a psychotic break three times.” Celeste said, but quickly added, “I never said that to you.” she didn’t want to be put in a mental hospital.

“It’s fine.” Harlow smiled. “Just make sure you take care of them.” she gestured to her parents that were sitting together.

Celeste could definitely take on that task. She’s been waiting for that moment to finally do it. She was a little less worried and a little less stressed. They could say the same now that she wasn’t causing trouble anymore. It was a good thing.

She knew her parents had each other. That's how it's always been. But they had Celeste, too, so everything will be just fine.