Chapter 20: Offer Accepted

“You rang, oh mighty leader?” Octavia laughed as she marched through the door.

Major McTavish pushed back in his chair in surprise. Octavia had always been pleasant – but she was downright happy right now. Her face beamed, her eyes were bright. It was – off-putting.

“Did you get laid or something?” Dervish asked, shaking his head.

“Nope,” she replied, almost dancing up to his desk and then plunking down in one of the chairs. “Better.”

“Better than sex?” Dervish asked in disbelief. “No such thing. I know you think chocolate is great but...”

“Better than chocolate!” Octavia cried – then scrunched her nose up. “Even better than Earth chocolate, much less the crap they call chocolate around here.”

“Come on now,” Dervish teased. “You know as well as I do...”

“‘It’s molecularly equivalent in every way!’” The two friends finished together, chuckling.

“Yeah, go grab a Confederacy beer and feed me that bullshit,” Octavia snorted. “I swear, I’m glad I don’t drink. Even Confederate wine tastes like crap. You know, I bet I could make a still and sell fermented Marine piss and make a mint.”

“Probably,” Dervish agreed. “So, if it wasn’t sex, what has you in such a good mood.”

“I kissed him,” Octavia admitted with a wide grin.

“You kissed who?” Dervish asked – then he thought about it a moment, Octavia’s smile getting wider by the moment, and his eyes grew as big as saucers. “You kissed Calix?”

“Yes!” Octavia laughed, leaning back in her chair.

“Wow!” Dervish said for lack of anything else to say. He was in uncharted waters here. He’d never seen Octavia quite like this. He’d often held her hand when they were growing up as she cried over a break-up. He’d regularly served as a sounding board for her schemes to get the girl or guy she was interested in at any given moment. He’d seen her calculating and cool and satisfied – but he’d never seen her quite this ecstatic. He wasn’t sure what to make of her current mood – and he had to tamp down a slight touch of jealousy as he watched her.

“Wow isn’t even the half of it,” she crowed. “It was ‘Wow!’ and ‘Gee!’ and ‘Holy Shit!’ and ‘Damn!’ all rolled into one, glued together and stuffed in a great Calix Kiss Burrito!”

“I kissed him!” Octavia continued laughing. “I kissed him and it was – I haven’t any words to describe it. It was better than...”

Her voice trailed off and she shook in her chair. “It was more than anything I’d ever hoped for.”

She looked around her eyes coming to rest on Dervish’s. “Dee, it was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. It never, ever felt like that – ever! Look at me, I’m twenty-two years old and I’m acting like a giddy, star-struck twelve-year-old!”

She pushed her chair and started it turning. “And – I – Don’t – Care!”

“I’m happy for you, Oh,” Dervish responded – and realized it was true. He was happy for her. If pressed, he’d admit he often wanted to find someone he could love in such a way. He would even say, although he’d never experienced it before, he hoped he’d find that kind of relationship with one of his concubines – either Pam or Erin or Llandry or Kitty. “Are you going to tell Avery?”

“Already told her,” Octavia admitted. “I kissed him in the hall right outside my door. I went in and – I had to tell her. I was too happy.”

The woman calmed down a bit before continuing, though the smile still threatened to split her face. “She said she was happy for me, too.”

Octavia took a long breath and let it out in a sigh, calming down still further. “I think she was worried I’d get rid of her and the rest of my family or something. I think, even if we last a thousand years in the stars, we’re still going to fail to see that love isn’t finite – it can get bigger but never smaller.”

“It’s a human thing, to worry someone will stop loving us or leave us,” Dervish observed. “She loves you.”

“And I love her,” Octavia sighed. “I would never leave her, just like I would never leave Melissa, Deanne or Darren. I’m responsible for them.”

“What if Calix asks you to leave them?”

“I assume that’s a rhetorical question,” Octavia snorted. “Calix would never do it and we both know it.”

“So, are you two going to join households?” The major asked. “What’s your plan?”

“I don’t know and I don’t have one,” Octavia responded pertly.

“You don’t have a plan?” Dervish raised his eyebrows.

“No, I don’t,” Octavia said firmly. “I’m done with the plans – they never work. I have some things I’m hoping for. I have some things I like. I think – maybe – Calix would be amenable to them.”

“Oh?” Dervish asked. “Why do you think he’ll be amenable?”

“He kissed me back!” Octavia smirked. “Three Times!”

Dervish chuckled and shook his head. “Three times, huh?”

“Silly, huh?” Octavia chuckled. “I’m serious, though, Dee. I’ve never felt this way. About anyone. I mean, I love Mel and Dee and Darren and Aves – I mean really love them. I’d do anything for them. With Cal, though ... I just don’t know how to explain it. I – I – it’s like I don’t think I can breathe without him. I’ve never felt this way before.”

“Shit,” Dervish groaned under his breath. “You do have it bad.”

He shook his head and looked at his friend with a grin. “I’m honestly happy for you, Oh. You deserve this. He might be ALMOST special enough to deserve you.”

The two friends laughed out loud for a few minutes before finally settling down. Octavia leaned back in her chair, staring off into space, a quirky little smile permanently etched onto her face. “I told him about his sisters.”

“I gathered,” Dervish replied, pulling his chair forward and steepling his fingers with his elbows on his desk. He looked at Oh’s startled face with some amusement. “What? You thought I was joking when I told you I tagged everything having to do with Calix? I wasn’t. I knew you were meeting with Sub-Decurion Almatters before it happened. I’ve watched the video of the interview.”

“Oh? Did you also watch the video of my meeting with him in the gymnasium?”

“No. Should I?” Major McTavish wriggled his eyebrows lewdly. “Know what I mean? Know what I mean? Nudge. Nudge. Say no more.”

“Oh, good God,” Octavia laughed. “Seriously? You been watching ancient vids again?”

Dervish laughed. “I’m not sure what is more sad – me using the old bit or you knowing where I got it from.”

Octavia just shook her head. “I worry about you sometimes, you know?”

The Major sank back in his seat, the smile slowly dripping off of his face. “We think Ensign Gebel is right. We think there’s a mole in the Confederacy. Although Artemis’ AI is certain we must be wrong, we think it might even be right here on Artemis.”