Sunday Snippet: Lover's Lament

I'm so happy The Flash and Arrow are back! Also, Gotham and Sleepy Hollow had great returns. As always, Banshee threw me for a sideways spin, bringing something random in from last season to kick the story and plot forward in a totally new way. Gotta say I'm pretty thrilled the topic of who Hood is or is not is being raised. I'm so damned curious about his past, which I rather hope ties into the military heist plot thread. We'll know if I'm right in about seven more episodes. J

Caught up with The Librarians and would not be disappointed if that one gets another season. It's such a fun show! Also loving the news of an X-Files revival. I'm almost through season six of my rewatch so the information comes at a timely moment. J

Tonight's post is from Lover's Lament, a novella where my main characters have had enough of everyone and everything.

Here's the tagline:

Taryn Untied and Holmes Selari, two soldiers under a constant stream of pressure, start making mistakes due to lack of any kind of down time. Their superior officer finally orders them to take R&R on the Lover's Lament and promises to conveniently forget their location if anything else goes wrong. Thirty-six hours of alone time should clear up their cranky attitudes

And a sneaky peek…

Colonel Waybright stepped out of the briefing room and bellowed. "Untied, Selari, get your asses in here right now." He jabbed his arm into the space he just vacated.

Taryn rolled her eyes, but complied with the order, heading for the ready room. Obnoxious son of a bitch better have a damned good reason for busting up her gripe session. She'd worked up a good head of anger and needed an outlet or she might explode.

Holmes glared in the chief's direction, grabbed a towel and wiped the grease from his hands. "We'll pick this back up when I'm through with the XO." He stalked away, ignoring the chief's blatant middle finger response.

She fell into step beside Holmes. "Pretty brave of the chief. You gonna have him tagged for insubordination?" She ducked through the doorway first and slumped down into the second seat of the back row.

Holmes dropped down beside her. "I don't know. Depends on whether he gets his shit together and has a full set of tools when we're done here." He propped a foot on the back of the chair in the row ahead of him.

Waybright entered and slammed the hatch shut. "You two are out of control." He strode to the front of the room. "I'm not gonna shout. Move up here or report to the brig." Moving behind the podium, he sent a blistering glance in their direction before grabbing a clipboard from the shelf.

Taryn heaved a sigh and shoved Holmes's foot out of her way. "Both options suck, but I'm not in the mood for the lumpy cots in the brig." She brushed past Holmes, walked to the first row and saw front and center.

Holmes followed behind, taking a seat in the second set of chairs. He again propped his foot up on the backrest next to Taryn. Waybright rested his forearms on the podium, leaned forward, and stared down his nose.

When the XO remained quiet for another full minute, she shook her head, fighting off a wave of fatigue. "Colonel, with all due respect, if you don't start talking in the next five seconds, I can't guarantee I'll be awake to hear what you say." A yawn tried to claw its way up from her lungs, but she swallowed hard and forced it down.

Holmes snorted. "I won't last three seconds." He put his foot down and sat up, draping his arms over the back of Taryn's seat.

The XO straightened. "You two think you're tired, don't you? You feel all pissed off and cranky because you can't catch a break." He grabbed the clipboard and stepped down off the dais. "Well, guess what? The fourteen hours days coupled with maintenance shifts aren't gonna end any time soon. But you two…" He glanced at the chart in his hand. "Haven't had any downtime in what? Thirty-six days?" His gaze left the clipboard and landed on the pilots. "Why is that?"

Taryn almost choked on the angry bile ready to overflow. "You're kidding, right?" She got up and paced back and forth in front of the colonel. "Every goddamned time I pull R&R some major clusterfuck happens and I'm on standby, pass revoked." Her head jerked toward Holmes. "Same goes for him." Her hands fisted. "And you know this, Colonel, because you're usually the one who does the revoking." She shot Holmes a sideways glance. "Do you believe this guy?"

Holmes settled back again and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, yeah. I believe it." He quirked an eyebrow. "Why are we here, Colonel? Because if you only brought us in here to remind us how much R and R we haven't had, I don't have time to listen. I've got two downed planes and a deck chief who's being a pain in my ass."

Waybright nodded. "Oh, I know, Selari. Believe me, I know." He strode back to the podium and grabbed a big pile of papers. "But I have something of a different version here." He waved the pages. "This entire stack is dedicated to complaints about you two and your piss poor attitudes." Tossing the grievances in the air, he smacked his hand on the podium. "It's gonna stop now."

Taryn lost her cool. "Is that an order, Colonel?" She didn't wait for a response. "Fine. Whatever. Consider me chastised and ready to paint a big, fake smile on my face." Turning, she started toward the hatch. "If that's all, I've got a checklist to oversee."

Waybright followed on her heels. "You're not dismissed yet, Lieutenant. Sit your ass down."

Taryn is in take no prisoners mode. Not even her XO is safe from her wrath.

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flip.