Chapter Text
Van’s eyes fluttered open, still curled up sideways on the Bellenuit King in the captain’s quarters. Marya’s lap was, as it turned out, a decent pillow, even with her very bony thighs. The captain was snoring softly through parted lips, and Van smiled. She tried to wiggle out of Marya’s grasp- her hand had fallen gently around Van’s waist as she slept- without waking the other up and failed spectacularly. Marya startled awake and stared at Van.
“Good mornin’,” Van said.
“Hi.” Marya was blinking rapidly. “What time is it?” Van checked her watch.
“Around seven in the morning. I’m gonna get breakfast, do you want anything?”
Marya shook her head. “I need to finish your arm.”
Ah. Right.
“Are you sure? You’re not gonna be productive on an empty stomach.” Marya shrugged. “I’ll bring you a muffin.” She kissed Marya softly before pushing herself off the bed- she’d had to relearn how to stand up slowly so as not to mess up her blood pressure- and pulled on a dressing gown. No need for a corset.
“Everyone will be shocked to see you in a dress,” Marya laughed.
“Well, it’s all I can put on myself right now, so they’ll just have to get over it.” Van grinned. Truth be told, she hated wearing dresses- always has- but it was quite difficult to put on a corset with one hand. Marya was too focused on the last touches of her mechanical arm to help her get dressed at the moment, so she could deal with it for five minutes. She pulled on old slippers she’d kept from the beginning of her time on the ship and set out to the galley to get herself and Marya muffins.
“Good morning, Van,” Monty greeted, doing a double take when he saw her dress. “Where did you find that?”
“I’ve had this, truly, since I was twenty.” Van laughed. Monty hung his head in shame.
“Nice gown, Van. That color looks good with your hair,” Comfrey said and patted Van on the back.
“Thank you, professor. It’s a little hard to get dressed at the moment, but Marya’s hard at work.” Comfrey nodded, pushing past her to get her breakfast. Van followed her inside, setting down a plate next to the container of muffins and grabbed two, thought about it, and put some bacon on her plate before carrying it to the captain’s quarters. Marya was glaring holes into the metal, jumping and snapping out of it when Van came in with the food.
“Hello, dear,” Van said as she swept into the room. That was her favorite part of wearing a dress- she got to sweep around and spin with her dress flowing out around her feet. Marya hummed and took a muffin off of the plate. She also reached for the bacon, but Van swatted her hand away.
“I shared with you yesterday,” Marya complained.
“Because I’m injured , Mar. You have to be nice to me.” Marya whacked the back of her head without any malice or weight behind it.
“Why do I keep you around?” Marya joked.
“Because I’m hot!” Van looked enormously proud of herself, and Marya all but tackled her about it. She winced when Marya’s hand brushed her left shoulder, and Marya noticed.
“Do you need some morphine?” she asked. Van sighed and nodded. Marya pulled a vial from her bedside table, lifting it to Van’s lips and punctuating the pain relief with a kiss. Van smiled against Marya’s mouth. Marya helped Van out of her dressing gown, mostly for the sake of comfort. She bit into Van’s collarbone and rested her hands on Van’s hips. Van hummed happily, relaxing into the touch. She reached down to scratch Marya’s head, feeling her smile against Van’s skin. She relaxed there for a moment before pressing a final kiss to her shoulder before pulling back to sit comfortably beside Van. She whined at the loss of pressure- much to Marya’s amusement- and tilted her head in confusion. Marya grabbed the prosthesis and helped it onto Van’s arm, pressing another gentle kiss to Van’s lips.
“We should… probably talk about this,” Marya said. Van scrunched her face in disagreement.
“Why? Can’t we just keep doing what we’ve been doing?”
Marya shook her head. “No, Van. I just… I cannot keep going with this without you knowing how I feel about you.” Marya rested her hand on Van’s thigh under the blanket.
“Okay. I… do you want to go first?” Van asked, viscerally uncomfortable with the whole ordeal besides the warmth of Marya’s skin.
“I forget how much you hate talking about feelings. I will go first.” Marya shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “I think I am in love with you.”
Van felt her breath hitch in her throat and she turned to face Marya.
“I… feel the same.” The words came out like sludge and Van felt lightheaded after. She realized that the lightheadedness was the morphine only after Marya was kissing her again with renewed vigor.
“Courting sounds so childish,” Marya said between kisses, “but it might be a little soon to talk as though we are wed.” Van nestled her face against Marya’s shoulder.
“Do we have to put a label on it?” she complained.
“Well, Monty has threatened to fight me on the deck.” Damnit, Monty.
“Fine,” Van sighed. “What about ‘betrothed?’ It’s not courting, but it’s not wed either.”
Marya smiled and kissed her softly. “My betrothed,” she whispered and pulled Van close. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Van was disembarking with Daisuke to punch the shit out of some people in Gulch Canyon. She was beyond bored, and now that she had both arms back, she could finally punch. Granted, neither Monty nor Marya had told her she was allowed to fight, but she was a full grown woman. She could make that decision on her own.
“Please, do not get yourself hurt,” Marya said.
“If you get hurt I’m gonna be pissed off, Van.” Monty clapped her loudly on the back.
“I’ll be fine. I’m just gonna beat up some people who are being annoying.”
“Don’t get arrested, either,” Marya scolded. She leaned up on her tip-toes to kiss her goodbye- no one but Monty was around- and Van laughed.
“I can take care of myself, and Daisuke will be there. Besides, who would arrest Van Chapman?”
Marya gave her a look. “Many cops would arrest Van Chapman.”
“Yeah, but it’ll be fine. Gulch Canyon’s police force is notoriously shit,” Monty countered.
“That’s true.”
Van grinned. “Can I have another dose of morphine?”
“I guess.” Monty pulled a bottle from his pack and she downed it in one sip. “Good lord, Van.”
Van hugged them both and started to wander the ship, searching for Daisuke. She found him standing over the trash can eating a muffin.
“They were going to be stale,” he said around a mouth full of muffin.
“I’m not one to judge,” she said. “Wanna go beat the shit out of some people?”
“Oh, absolutely.” He shoved the rest of his muffin into his mouth and started to head toward the ramp down to port. Van followed him, and they both ran to the city.
Gulch Canyon was one of Comfrey’s favorite places to visit as of late- her grandchild, Baby MacLeod (the name is a work in progress) was born about two years ago and she has decided to make that everyone on the ship’s problem. They were going to be docked in Gulch Canyon for a few days, and Baby MacLeod was going to be on the ship for all of those days. Daisuke and Van needed to burn off some steam before the toddler was on the ship.
The pair took off down the streets of Gulch Canyon, laughing about something that wouldn’t be funny to anyone else. Van and Daisuke were not the closest on the ship, by any metric, but being the ship’s designated fighters (aside from Marya’s sharpshooting) created a special bond. They found a group of young men, by Van’s judgement about 19 years old, talking about how they were headed to the MacLeod farm. Daisuke looked over to Van with a dangerous smile and a twinkle in his eyes.
“Hey there, fellas. Heard you were headed to the MacLeod farm?” he said, startling the men.
“Uh, um, yes sir?” one of them said. One of the others slapped him.
“No, sir, we were headed next door.” Both of them could tell that was a lie.
“Really? What are your plans all the way outta town?” Daiuske signalled Van, who got ready to punch.
“We, um, well-”
“Were you headed to kill Comfrey MacLeod? Don’t bother lyin’.” Van’s voice sounded a lot more confident than it had in her head.
The guilty look was enough for the two of them to take action. Van didn’t throw the first punch, but she dodged every one the young men threw at her (Marya would be proud) and was quickly pummeling one of them into the ground. It was invigorating, feeling bones crunch beneath her hands as her prosthetic hand held the kid still.
“Van, a little help here?” Daisuke asked. She punched the kid one last time before getting up and roundhouse kicking the one trying to grapple him before pushing him to the ground and punching him as well. She got a wild sense of satisfaction from the crack of his cheekbone under her fists. She figured that might be something she needed to unpack, but for right now, she felt adrenaline pulse through her veins and the intoxicating smell of metallic blood in the air. Daisuke had opted for his fists as well, leaving his guns in their holsters, and Van could tell Monty was going to flip his lid about her letting her 61-year-old coworker punch people with his bare fists. It wasn’t her fault Daisuke didn’t own gloves.
When all of the men were down for the count, at least temporarily, Van stood up and brushed the sand from her trousers. “Well, Pappy, how about we head back to the ship? I assume the baby will have boarded by now.”
Daisuke nodded. He loved the baby nearly as much as Comfrey did, and was excited to see them.
When they got to the ship, Van could see Marya staring off into space off the boat. Daisuke reboarded and disappeared. Van heard him excitedly greet the baby and Comfrey.
“Hey, love,” Van said softly, standing next to her. “You alright?”
Marya startled back to the real world and raised her guard, only to melt when she realized it was only Van. “Hello, my darling.”
“What are you thinking about?”
“I… not really much of anything. Worried about you.”
“Aww.” Van glanced around to confirm that they were alone on the deck before putting an arm around her waist and pulling her in for a kiss.
Marya smiled against her lips and relaxed into the affection. Van pulled back first and smiled back at her. “You’re so pretty,” she said.
“Thank you. You are, too.” Marya’s hands found Van’s hips and she pulled her back into the kiss. They heard the others coming up to deck and quickly pulled apart.
“Van!” Baby MacLeod exclaimed, running up to her.
“Hey, sugar!” She scooped the baby up. They giggled as Van bounced them on her hip. Marya was looking at Van with the most affection she’d ever seen.
“Do you like your Auntie Van?” Comfrey asked, reaching her arms out for the baby.
“Yes!” the baby exclaimed, snuggling further against Van.
“Dinner’s ready,” Monty called. Everyone followed him down to the galley, Van setting the baby in a high chair before fixing her plate. Comfrey was frustrated as she chopped the chicken into small pieces for the baby, and the galley was getting far too small with everyone around the counters at once. Marya made sure she was right in front of Van, leaning back into her warm torso. When dinner was over- grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and asparagus- Van led Marya and Monty down below decks into the functional living room. She pulled out a bottle of rum and poured glasses for the three of them.
“What’s all this about?” Monty asked.
“Just… wanted to hang out with my two favorite people on the ship?” she asked. That was, genuinely, her motive. She worried it wouldn’t be enough, that they would leave, that they would leave her there alone-
Marya scooted closer on the couch, twisting their calves together and squeezing her hand.
“Dork,” she teased, kissing her cheek.
Monty laughed. “Marya told me you finally talked about your feelings.” He smiled at them. “I’m happy for you.”
“Thank you. Now it’s your turn to talk to Daisuke.” Van gave him a look.
“Shut your mouth,” he said. “He’s married.”
“Comfrey is practically begging you to tell him.”
Monty rolled his eyes.
The night went quickly, the rum flowed freely, and the secrets spilled loosely. Marya, who couldn’t handle her liquor nearly as well as Van or Monty, ended up asleep on the couch, with her head buried against Van’s lap. Van smiled and kissed her head, scooping her up with her newly attached arm and carried her into the captain’s quarters. She pulled Marya’s clothes off gently, leaving her shivering in her combinations. Van took her own clothes off quickly, and tucked Marya close to her body as she slipped into bed.