Falling Apart ((Finlay/Spader))

[Jennifer Spader 0]

Fin slumped against a wall. Everybody had been evacuated from the shuttle and cargo bays and he had been running around like a madman making sure that everybody had left the area. He was exhausted. People had been running around, some had stumbled a couple had been injured. Nothing major, but sprained ankles meant limping, limping meant weakness, weakness meant death in situatuions like these. Fortunately, the security staff, which he was reporting to, was able to calm things down before any real panic broke out. Either way, carrying people to safety was a tiring task. So now that everything was over Fin allowed himself to sit down for a minute to regein enough strength to reach the next bar for a stiff drink or two.

 

He hadn't been sitting there very long when a set of footsteps came around the corner. Spader didn't look up to see whose feet exactly were sticking out into the middle of the corridor, just mumbled, "Come on...move along. We're clearing out this corridor too. Little further in." She was exhausted; the whole place -- or at least its outer sections -- had gone very abruptly to hell, and the evacuation was still in the cleanup stages in the outer decks, though she'd finally been convinced by one of the techs to let them handle the easier bits and go get some rest. It was hard to rest when all signs pointed to the station slowly being eaten from the outside in, but she figured it might be a good plan to take advantage of the rest when it was offered.

 

"Come on...up you get," she said, a little more force in her voice, raising her eyes to see who it was. "No time to--oh." Finlay. Her voice dropped in volume slightly and edged up abruptly with frustration. "What are you doing still here?"

 

He was tired and didn't feel like fighting with Jen again. Usually he enjoyed it immensly; he loved driving her insane and seeing that he still knew how to push her buttons. But right now he simply got up and walked along the corridor next to her. "What do you mean? My ship's falling apart and I'm pretty sure it's Starfleet's fault. So, where would I go? I didn't feel like taking a space walk today, so I thought I'd stay." He sounded tired and annoyed.

 

"Your ship was falling apart when it showed up," Spader said, in a tone that indicated the jibe was more force of habit than anything else. There was no energy behind it; her voice was low. She paused, then sighed. "Come on, Fin, you can't stay here, I'm to get everyone off this deck."

 

Fin sighed: "I'm not sure I can walk anymore, will you carry me?" With that he leaned on her heavily. It was strange, but after the bad day he was having he felt like reliving the old times was a good idea. Just that in the old times when he was leaning on her like that it had usually been because he was drunk and she had caught him outside after curfew. Fin stopped for a moment, forcing Jen to do the same. "Strange all this, innit?"

 

Spader grunted, holding his weight up with a startled noise, then checking her step abruptly as he stopped, trying not to fall over. "Strange what? That the station's falling apart? Hell yes, it's strange." Shifting her shoulders slightly to stop his chest from digging against her shoulder, she tugged him forward. "Come on, Finlay...one foot in front of the other."

 

Slowly he started walking again. "Well, that's strange, too. But I meant that we run into each other again. Although, it figured that it had to be pretty much at the end of the universe. I never really got to say goodbye, did I?" He knew full well that he never said goodbye, it had all been a part of his more or less well thought out plan.

 

Spader gave him a sideways look, and a thousand responses danced on the tip of her tongue waiting to be spat with all the energy she had left, which wasn't much. But it would be a waste and she knew it. He was deliberately being obtuse. "No."

 

"I guess I never really expected to see you again." He knew that it wasn't really an explanation for what had happened between them, or rather for how he had behaved when it had all ended, but he hope that this answer would suffice for now. He also knew that she would demand answers soon. Jen had never been one to leave questions unanswered, and she must have plenty. It would all have been much easier if he hadn't run into her again. Life had been great an uncomplicated until the moment they had docked at Aegis. Since then he had been falsely accused and interrogated, his ship was falling apart, he was enhausted, his and his crew's jobs were at risk (without a ship no job) and now all this Jen business again.

 

"Clearly." She knew she sounded sulky and she didn't care, just slapped the turbolift controls as they reached the end of the corridor and gave him a nudge, stepping back to make him walk in under his own power.