Re: Shepard and Darcy
Shepard wasn't lost on how he tensed up. Even in the slightest. He'd probably lose, but she didn't doubt he'd take her on if it came down to it, with Ashley. Being sober made her hyperaware. Which was all kinds of weird. "I wish I had handled things better. Grief, and guilt are an ugly mix. Add booze on top of it? It's a piss poor excuse. But I can't say I've ever dealt well with either." And she'd dealt with a lot. More than either of them would ever know. Or she hoped so anyway. That's why she went in wasn't it? So people like Darcy, and Ashley would never know what the pains of that kind of war again.
"Yeah, that is some feat. The twins are here, even. Mrs Reynolds set me up with a place for them to sleep once they got cranky with promises that one of the girls would come get me if they woke up fussy after I got them down. That's some woman you got there." Her eyes flickered over to each of the Sullys that were there. All dressed in period proper attire. All of them fitting in as if they were born to it. She wondered how hard it was for her father-in-law not to sneak off to grill the game warden about animals and plants. "Thanks. But you're the one from this time period. And I didn't even wear a dress to my own wedding. But I did come through the door for her." A story she hoped Ashley knew.
Shepard had completely forgotten about the gun. That felt like a million years ago now. "You know what, keep it. I'll teach you how to use it when you get back to the station. That way, worse come to worse, you're the last line of defense between whatever the future might bring. I can hope you'll never have to use it, but it always brought me some pretty good luck. And it was the last gun I used right before coming to the island." Her gaze had shifted back to him, at least until Darcy brought up that they were having a similar conversation. She noticed that Rawdon's cheeks had gone rosy, and there was that heart stopping smile on his face. "They're definitely talking about something..." there was no hiding the distraction in her voice. And she might not recognize it, but it was clear to anyone else that she was a goner.