It had been one hell of a week. Not only had Octavia (and everyone else) had to deal with two sets of memories and regaining her old memories, she was also busy at the base trying to help sort the mess of the entire displaced population of Atlantis being out of commission. They were still trying to pin down exactly what the cause of the alternate reality had been a locate the missing Notebook. At least all of the busyness at the base helped distract her from everything else for a while.
The day was winding down, and Octavia stood up from her desk with a stretch and headed for the break area. She pulled out two bottles of water from the fridge and walked down the hallway to Becker’s office. Knocking lightly on the door, she waited just a second before opening and once verifying he didn’t have someone with him or wasn’t on the phone, she entered and closed the door behind her. One of the two bottles was tossed to him, and she plopped down sideways in a chair across from his desk with her legs hanging over the side.
Noticing the two dogs snuggled up together and sleeping over in the corner, she wrinkled her nose as she took a sip of water. “We really ought to look into getting those mattresses set up for our offices,” she joked, referring back to a somewhat awkward conversation they’d had a while ago after he’d found her sleeping on the floor of his office. They’d practically been living at the base since they’d gotten back, so why not?
Octavia shifted her gaze from the dogs back over to Becker. They’d seen each other here since they’d gotten back, but since they didn’t live together anymore and they’d been so damn busy, they really hadn’t had a chance to talk alone about… stuff. The two of them plus Sharon hadn’t exactly talked much at all about anything from Breckentale yet.
“Do you have a lot left for the night?” Not just a lot left because that answer would have always been yes to that question, but a lot left for the night before he called it a day.
The whole fucking thing was a mess. The number of people who had left during the holiday from hell messed a number of teams and departments. Figuring it all out had been complicated. Not nearly as complicated as watching people walk around with two sets of memories. For Becker, he’d managed to mostly lock all of his own feelings about it all in a neat little box while he tried to figure out what the hell needed to be done next. The only good news was that he didn’t have to do it alone, the bad news it was with the woman who he’d been seeing in Breckentale. They seemed to have decided not to say anything about it to each other though, at least for now.
Flipping through some paperwork he heard the knock and mumbled for whomever it was to come in, he didn’t even look up as he caught the bottle of water, it wasn’t until he looked at the bottle in his hand that he looked up to Octavia.
Octavia. That added another complication, not a bad one, but it was a complication.
Smirking he nodded. “Full suites would be better,” he responded opening the bottle and taking a sip of water. At her next question, he looked down at the paperwork that seemed to somehow multiply no matter what he did.
“A fair bit,” he answered with a sigh rubbing the back of his neck. “But I could use a break.” He was trying, and he just didn’t know what to do.
“Hey, now you’re talking,” she said and returned the smile. “Then we’d never have to go home.” Which actually didn’t sound like the worst thing considering how the rooming situation had changed ever since they gotten back to Atlantis. She didn’t not like her new roommates, it was just a matter of who they weren’t. That “who” being the person sitting in front of her. They’d been roommates for a long time, so of course they were separated shortly after they began dating.
“I was thinking of taking a break until, uh… morning.” Octavia leaned her head back and gave him semi-innocent look. Or as innocent as Octavia Blake could ever muster. Sighing, she swung her legs over and off the edge of the chair so that she was sitting back straight. She knew that they probably needed to have the talk about things that happened when they weren’t quite themselves, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to have another one of those.
“Or at least until we can pick up some actual food instead of living off whatever we can find here.”
Smirking he had a moment of not minding that idea himself, but he also knew leaving the office was key. Becker wasn’t okay with the new housing situation, but he also understood it better than he wanted to admit to. Sometimes living with someone you just started seeing wasn’t the best idea and he took it in stride.
Becker leaned back putting both hands behind his head and stretching a little bit. “Until morning huh?” He teased as a smirk started to form as he watched her. He couldn’t help but find it cute, and a little funny at the same time. He looked back down at his desk trying to decide if things could be left until morning and if that’d be okay.
“I guess I could just come in early tomorrow.” He finally said after a good moment of thinking. “What food do you have in mind?” Becker asked, although he almost wondered if she had food on her mind at all. Hell part of him was wondering if she still wanted whatever it was they were doing the whole Breckentale thing might have changed something.
Coming in early, coming in late. Octavia decided it was probably best to keep that idea to herself for now since she wasn't about to jinx the chance of him cutting out early. By his reaction and the little smirk, he seemed pretty okay with the idea plus food on top of it all. She shrugged. "I'm not picky. Just nothing that I have to cook or comes out of a microwave. Stone or Simp Hop? Takeout, delivery, going out. Whichever."
Going out wasn't something they typically did a lot of before Breck; they generally chose to stay in which was more than okay with her. Now it was a little different given their new housing situation. They'd wanted to keep things quiet and low key, and she'd liked it that way. Octavia just wanted to make sure he was still okay with all of this.
"Going somewhere or taking it home makes it less likely for you to decide to pick back up here afterwards," she pointed out and gave him a look. “Because I’m not sure I trust you not to.”
Becker thought for a moment, playing as if it was a really big choice to make. Nodding he finally spoke. “Stone, and we can get take out,” Becker decided. He could use a good wood fire pizza and he really didn’t want to be somewhere that he’d get bothered. Lately, it seemed like everyone had a question or something to complain about. He was getting really sick of it. He merely mock glared at her for her second comment.
Becker wasn’t the type to talk about things but he felt like they did need to talk about what had happened in Breckentale. “Besides, bet there are a few things we should,” he motioned his hand almost as though he couldn’t say the words talk about.
Octavia let out a breath and nodded at his words. She was a little surprised he mentioned it but also relieved since she really didn’t want to be the one to do it. “Yeah, I guess we should.” The fact that he brought it up also made her worry that maybe something had changed. She didn’t bring that up yet though.
“I can pick up the pizza and we can meet at one of our places?” She suggested. They could always talk it out there at the office, but she preferred not to do that since anyone could walk it anytime. Octavia didn’t know her new roommates that well yet, but they seemed cool enough. And either at his place or hers, they were more likely to get some privacy.
Becker nodded, he was clueless to the fact that his words might make her worry, it was just that he wasn’t good at this stuff but he got the impression that Cappie wasn’t going to be as pleased about being back as some others from the little bit of understanding that he had about the whole thing.
“I’ll get the dogs out,” he didn’t like that the dogs now had to share between two different homes but he understood it too, they needed to stick together.
“Meet back at mine in 20 minutes?” He offered unsure if he should have said her’s but he felt like his housemates were people they knew better and it’d be a little less awkward.
“Works for me,” Octavia said with a nod as she stood up. She was already pulling up Stone’s number on her phone so that she could call on her way as she gave a last wave and was out the door. Picking up the pizzas didn’t take too long. Even though they probably wouldn’t come close to eating everything, she still ordered two: one with a little of everything and one with just a couple of meats. And the breadsticks. As far as she was concerned, it was hard to go wrong with toasty, garlicy bread and some sort of marinara sauce.
Her stomach was practically growling on the way back thanks to the smells coming out of the boxes, and she might have nabbed one of the breadsticks on the way. Since she didn’t know if anyone else would be home when she got there, Octavia knocked on the door and waited until Becker answered before she came inside. “I hear you’re supposed to tip for delivery,” she quipped as she dodged the two dogs around her feet who were much more awake now versus how tuckered out they’d seemed at the office.
Once they were settled and eating, Octavia sipped at her drink for a couple seconds. “So,” she started slowly. “Those things we probably ought to talk about.” She looked over at him. “Have you and Sharon talked about anything yet? She and I haven’t except for, well, the fact that we were fake siblings I guess.”
The walk with the dogs had gone quickly and just as he’d gotten back there was a knock on the door, laughing at her comment he did something a little out of the norm for him as he leaned down and gave her a little kiss as a tip.
It was a quick moment and he was fine with the food being a focus for a few moments as he practically downed a slice before starting on a second.
“Uh…” He started and cleared his throat. “No.” They hadn’t talked about it. “Haven’t had a chance to really talk about it, not with all the changes.” There were so many changes that Becker felt like all that ate his life. “Weird you two were,” he said waving his right hand with a piece of pizza in it to finish the sentence.
“It’s been busy,” she agreed and took another bite. Her mouthful of pizza was a good way to delay talking again. “It was weird but not weird, I guess. The her and me thing by itself, I mean. Not by itself is more weird.” The her and him with Octavia on the sibling side. “Everything seems to be going okay, though. Getting back to normal.”
She picked up a breadstick but didn’t take a bite yet. She tapped it lightly against her plate. “I talked to Cappie the other day,” she said finally. They hadn’t spoken since, and she knew it was likely going to be longer before they did since he’d said he needed some time. She understood why even if she didn’t really like it.
“With how things played out there and even sometimes here too I guess, he’s taking some time.”
Did he want to know more. Becker couldn’t figure out how to even move forward with that conversation. He hadn’t talked to Sharon about it, at all, and that seemed perfectly fine for him. It looked like she and Bucky fell right back into place without and drama he didn’t see the point in talking about it.
“Uh, he’s taking some time?” Becker knew what it meant, or at least he thought he did, but was she saying something about feelings for Cappie here? He didn’t know.
“Yeah,” she started and left the breadstick on her plate and went for a sip of her drink instead. “You probably already realized that he felt something before we ever dived head first into our fake lives. But he’d been able to deal with it and move on.” For the most part anyway, as far as she knew. “Then all of that happened, and it was brought back up again. But probably even more. So, once we got back, and we actually knew who we really were again…”
She let that trail off since Becker could probably figure it out for himself. Cappie still had feelings for her when she didn’t share them in the way he wanted her to. Her head was starting to settle now that they’d been back a little while, but at first Octavia had felt like she had a split personality with such different sets of memories.
“He’s still just a friend,” she said, sitting forward a little. “A good friend, but a friend.”
Becker sort of did, but not really, he wasn’t completely sure what was what because that kind of thing wasn’t the kind of thing he well, got. Tactical shit, yes. Romantic feelings not so much. All he managed to do was nod. There was a slight hint of guilt that ran through him as he thought about the first kiss thing with Cappie there.
“Well, glad he’s a friend,” Becker said awkwardly but nodded meaning it. He just really didn’t know what else he was supposed to say.
Octavia nodded. Yeah, he was a friend, but one that she hadn’t seen in a few days and probably wouldn’t for a few more. It sucked, but she’d be a crappy friend if she pressed too soon. As long as he didn’t go off the rails or disappear completely again, she could wait.
Based on his answer, and after being around Becker for two years, Octavia was mostly sure she was reading correctly between the lines. Still, she sort of wanted to hear it out loud. “So, this,” she said and motioned between the two of them with the breadstick she’d picked back up again. “You still in?” She went to take a bite, but paused. “I am, for the record,” she said with a small smile after taking the bite.
Looking down for a few seconds he looked back up as he heard her voice again. He raised an eyebrow as he leaned back studying her expression and smirked at the breadstick.
“Well, if it includes breadsticks,” he teased unable to help himself. He never thought he’d have this conversation with a breadstick being pointed at him. “Yes. I’m in.” Becker confirmed leaving the breadsticks out of the rest of his answer.
“I mean, breadsticks do make everything better,” she said after another bite. “And good.” The conversation would have gotten awkward really fast if he’d said something else. And speaking of awkward, she’d thought about whether or not she should tell him about some of the other memories she hadn’t told him about yet. Like some of the ones that had shown up in her dreams that she’d told Cappie about when they were slowly getting their normal memories back. Right now, though, she decided to keep that to herself. She’d only even really told Cappie about it because a big part of her didn’t realize it had been real.
Instead, she finished off her breadstick and rested her chin in her hand. “To help take advantage of this leaving the office early thing, do you want to chill with a movie or something?”
Becker shrugged as he thought about it What should they do?
“Uh, I think chilling is good, not sure the movie is needed.” He commented casually taking another bite of a piece of pizza. “Wrap up dinner, clean up, and,” he paused. “Chill.”
Octavia watched Becker’s casual demeanor and nodded after a short moment, smiling a little as she reached for another piece of pizza. “Yep. Chill.” She couldn’t argue with that.