Sunday Snippet: Losing the Light

What an incredible episode of The Last Ship! I loved the whole storm at sea and the cat and mouse game with the Greek ships. My fingers are crossed nothing happens to Master Chief. I'll be very upset if he dies.

Teen Wolf brought back even more former Beacon Hills faces. I'm excited and a little melancholy about tonight's episode. I'll be totally thrilled if Monroe finally dies a spectacular death.

I'm four episodes in on The Defenders and pretty much love it so far. Even Danny isn't as annoying as I thought he'd be. Jessica and Luke make me happy. Not as a couple or anything, I just love their shorthand conversations. And, of course, Matt is pretty much my favorite, always.

Hawaii Five-0 is pretty terrific in season seven. I like the interactions and pretty much like Steve getting some closure with Katherine. I'm not even halfway through the season yet, but here's hoping the remaining episodes are as good.

Gotham returned! I completely missed the premiere date but got caught up the next day. I LOVED the first episode of the season. I'm thrilled the show seems to have found its footing and delivers great television on a consistent basis.

That's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Losing the Light, a novella that started with a writing community prompt of "crying, a new place, and a flashlight". I kind of liked the randomness of this one.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Walker Garrett always does the right thing—except when it comes to Barret Danks. Barret never listens when she doesn't want to hear what's said, but Walker's ultimatum has her accepting a post on a newly terraformed planet. With him in the air and her on the ground, working out their issues doesn't seem likely… until Walker gets a call to meet with Barret's boss.

And a sneaky peek…

Butch and Linda took Elsie and headed back toward their section of the tent village, leaving Barret in the uncomfortable position of being with Walker.

Alone.

She drank in the sight of him—tall, rugged, and dressed for being down below. The man wore civilian clothes well. He also looked damned good in nothing at all.

Stop it, Barret. No going backwards. You no longer have a place in his heart.

Because she'd cut and run… her modus operandi. If she could turn back the clock, she might do things differently but the primary conflict would be the same. Walker always wanted more.

More discussion. More plans. More commitment.

He didn't understand and never would. She didn't talk about her innermost feelings—she loved him and said so, but sharing fear and uncertainty, of waiting for their life to implode. Yeah, not so much. She never planned for the future—she didn't know how. Committing to a monogamous relationship proved easier than she'd expected, but pledging to spend her life with one person? She had zero point of reference of what that looked like.

Walker hefted his pack over his shoulder and started down the main thoroughfare. A meeting with Laura… one Barret didn't know about. Her curiosity got the better of her.

She followed and caught up with Walker. "Did Laura really not say why she wanted the meet or were you trying to maintain a cover with the Aldermans?" Barret didn't like not being in the loop on private meetings with someone from up top.

She usually advised the premier on matters involving the protection detail orbiting the planet.

Walker spared a brief glance in Barret's direction. "She didn't go into specifics, but asked for a cover of darkness meet-up." He lifted a shoulder. "I wasn't ordered to keep anything under wraps and the kid recognized me so I stuck with the truth." He made a turn at the next left.

Barret frowned. "The Commonplace is this way." She jerked her head to the right.

Walker paused and his shoulders tensed. "We're not meeting at the official residence." He didn't elaborate, but he didn't have to.

Laura requested an off-book meeting, which meant no public record of Walker's presence. Interesting.

And a little off-putting since Barret had no idea of the scheduled event.

Walker angled his head around. "Don't you have a patrol to complete?" His eyebrow quirked.

As far as dismissals went, he could've been harsher. He didn't owe her an explanation. And he certainly had no reason to satisfy her curiosity.

Dammit.

Barret sighed. "Yeah, I do." She fought the trickle of longing to ask if she could walk him to his destination.

He wouldn't welcome her company. And since Laura didn't mention anything about the meeting, Barret had to assume the premier didn't want anyone else there. A cause for concern, certainly, but Laura did things her way.

Barret nodded toward the thoroughfare. "Take extra care walking in that direction. The rabble-rousers start early down here." With a shrug, she started back in the direction of the tent settlement.

Walker didn't respond and when Barret glanced over her shoulder, he'd already disappeared into the dark shadows.

She squared her shoulders again. "Good luck, man. Here's hoping you don't run into any of the disgruntled element that's been causing trouble." He'd bring a nice bounty if they got their hands on him.

But… not her problem. If Laura wanted her out of the loop, Barret would stay there.

Didn't make her roiling stomach calm down any.

Or maybe that came from seeing Walker again…

I'm actually not completely sure where this one will end up going, but I like the tone it's taking.

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

ML Skye