Chapter Text
Tommy is tired.
Tommy is the kind of bone tired you feel at the base of your skull, a dragging burn behind your eyeballs, a splinterous ache radiating from the ball of each foot. His exhaustion is writ in the slump of his shoulders, too weak to protest the pull of gravity, basket barely held on two fingers as it sags towards the floor unattended, empty.
He’d stopped off at the grocery on the way back from work, well-intentioned but foolish. Now he’s staring dispassionately at a wall of steaks wondering how the hell he’s gonna get himself home, let alone manage to cook anything edible.
“Tommy?”
He startles at the sound of his name, trance clearing as he turns towards the source. Athena Grant is stood a couple of yards away, haloed by a wide end cap of dips and sandwich fillers. Shock lights him with a flush of adrenaline and he straightens automatically, chin lifting, shoulders squaring just shy of attention. A deeply ingrained recognition of authority.
“Sergeant Grant.” He returns with a careful nod, to the exasperated roll of her eyes.
For a woman with such an uncompromising presence, for the first time, she looks small. Her chin tilts, lips pursing defiantly under his scrutiny, but her eyes are glassy, cheeks hollow. A riotous grief, barely constrained. Free-standing by stubborn will alone.
It’s been two weeks.
“None of that, thank you, Warrant Officer Kinard.” The arch of her brow is sharp enough to lacerate, each pointedly drawled title its own punctuation. The implication is stark, challenge gossamer thin. She’s looked him up. Knows exactly who he is. Has likely seen the inch-thick dossier of domestic complaints masquerading as his childhood.
He shifts his weight, cheeks flushing with unease.
“I-it’s, I, uh - it’s good to see you, ma’am.” He conceals the urge to cringe, tongue-tied and fumbling. “How…. How are you?”
It’s a stupid question, he knows, regrets it the instant it leaves his mouth. But it’s all he’s got.
She squints at the lone packet of cookie dough in her basket, lets out a heaving sigh, studies him with a sideways glance.
“I feel like pho. You wanna get some pho?”