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I'd been looking for her for what felt like an eternity. I had honestly started to think she'd left on her own - wouldn't be the first time, anyway. By the time I did find her, my lungs and head felt heavy; I did run through the entire perimeter, four times. But you'd think with as much training as I have, this wouldn't faze me at all.
She'd been just outside the walls, smoking her health away as she always does. It's not a shocker, but it made me scowl. She didn't even notice me at first, which I saw as an opportunity to give her a scare. It's only fair after I went looking for so long, right?
I breathed in and out a couple of times, then made my way towards her with my knees scraping against the soft, chilling snow. My footsteps were quiet and calculated as I approached her, so unsuspecting.
"BOO!" I yelled as I sprung up to meet her eye-to-eye. I could almost see her soul escaping her body for just a split moment as the cigarette slipped out of her hand. The snow put the fire out in an instant, leaving only a faint trail of smoke behind.
I saw her fist raising up, before she finally noticed it was me.
"God, Porter, you bastard." Her icy glove pressed against my cheek to push me away, I admittedly didn't even try to resist it. I could only smile foolishly at her as she glared up at me.
"Heheh," I snickered with pride, "that's what you get for leaving without a warning. Y'know, I looked everywhere for ya."
"Did you? Why? Did something happen?" I noticed her eyes quickly soften with concern.
"No, I just wanted to see you, is all. These past few days have been busy, huh?" I leaned my back against the wall, next to her.
She looked down at her extinguished cigarette, her eyes burdened with all kinds of emotions, I could tell.
"Too... busy."
"Yeah. We haven't had any time to hang out like we usually do."
She went quiet, and for the first time in a while, I couldn't exactly read her expression. I had an idea of what it was about, though.
"You thinking about her?"
"Huh?" Her eyes widened, but she weakly shook her head. "Oh, no, it's not that this time. No, it's something else."
"You know you can talk to me, Mary."
"Hah," she chuckled, delighted, "I do know, and I appreciate it. It's just not worth talking about."
"Anything is worth talking about. It would be better than sneaking out to-" I glanced down at the cigarette, prompting her to do the same- "do this."
When I looked back at her, she still wouldn't dare look me directly in the eyes, like she was afraid of me. What even is there to be afraid of, anyway? Still, I tried not to look too deep into it. I know just how stressful these past few days have been, for her especially. It's been a rough period of transition for all of us, losing so many soldiers in such a short span of time...
"I'm fine, Porter. But, thank you for the concern."
"Well," noticing how uncomfortable she was, I decided it would be best to switch topics for now. "How about we take a stroll? I think it'd do us some good, after everything we've been through."
She perked up, and at long last, built up the courage to look directly at me. My idea must have sounded really nice in that moment.
"Ah, I wouldn't mind that." Her smile was definitely contagious, though.
"We could pass by that one store I've been talking about all week, too. There's something in there I want you to see."
"Really!?" She took hold of my hand, which I wasn't really expecting. "You've got me all excited now! Let's get going."
I allowed myself to get dragged away by her nonetheless, moving my legs to her rhythm.
Seeing her that happy was enough to satisfy me for the day, I just couldn't wait for her to see my surprise.