Chapter 6 – The Next Morning

Cortana stared into the mirror observing and taking in every inch of what she saw. She had been at this for almost an hour. She was standing in her room in front of the full length mirror inspecting her naked form. It wasn't until this morning she realized that because of the problems with the procedure and the move-in, she hadn't yet checked her body since she observed it in Pandora's laboratory. After giving herself one more once over and turning around completely, she gave a small sigh of relief that her body seemed to be to her liking. She had an hourglass figure that matched her AI avatar which she was thankful but being an AI, albeit former, she had decided to inspect each attribute of her body.

Her legs were lean.

Her hands were dainty and dexterous.

Her stomach was flat, if not a little gaunt thanks to the several weeks on the feeding tube.

Her breasts were perky and proportional.

Her hair was jet black and was a little longer than shoulder length.

Her face was soft and expressive.

Her skin was of a fair complexion.

And her eyes, well her eyes were the favorite part of her new body she discovered as they were the same bright, vibrant, indigo that her body had once been. A small reminder of where she had come from and all she had been through. She smiled as she walked over toward her dresser to grab some clothes and reached down for her discarded panties as the door opened.

John was in the garage and had been there since 0600 that morning. The UNSC had generously donated some of the old Spartan training equipment at the request of the Master Chief. None of the UNSC soldiers, with the exception of the new Spartan IV's, could use the equipment anyways as it was developed and built specifically for the Spartans augmented strength. At the moment, Chief was finishing up his morning routine with what Kelly had coined during training "The Spartan Gauntlet". It was a special setting on the ACM, Advanced Cardio Machine, which would simulate a 5 mile sprint through Covenant held territory to deploy a bomb. The machine had the ability, with a full body tight suit, to simulate being shot and temporary paralysis by sending electrical surges to specific points on the body. The Spartan Gauntlet was supposed to be done holding a standard issue rifle, but since Chief no longer had his rifle, he settled on using his pistol as a substitute. Finally finishing, he looked down only to be disappointed that, once again, he had failed to beat Kelly's record.

I guess you can't teach that kind of speed… or even augment it.

Kelly had always been the fastest. The rabbit of the Spartans was the master of speed and agility. No matter how hard he had tried, he had never once been able to best her in a race of any sort. John grabbed his training towel that was hanging from one of the pieces of equipment and toweled himself off before he walked up stairs to take a shower. When he had woken up at 0600, Cortana had been fast asleep, as was her norm. He found it amusing that she used to be an AI that ran completely on a set schedule and now that she was a human, she routinely woke up of her own accord and never rose before him. He supposed it was a freedom that she had immediately embraced and that he had not yet accepted.

I guess I am more machine then she is now.

He figured with time he may learn to sleep in, if only an extra 30 minutes on occasion. After all, he was no longer a soldier. The thought made him stop at the top of the stairs though he quickly shook it off and continued to his room. Or rather their room, Cortana included. Last night had given him a moment of panic. When she had asked where he was sleeping, it was as if someone had stabbed him. The only time since being assigned her that he had not been with her had been her time with the Gravemind and that had not been pleasant for himself or Cortana. His episode, if one could call it that, was for naught as she simply had given him her trademark smile, got into the bed, and pulled him along with her. It had just felt natural, being with her. It was something he did not have a great deal of experience in and had thought it might be uncomfortable for Cortana but to his surprise she had seemed to enjoy it as much as him and had fallen asleep very quickly in his arms. He couldn't keep a small smile from his face as he went to open the door thinking about how he had woken up to her peaceful, sleeping form. It had taken him 10 full minutes to even get out of the bed as he watched her dream.

Whatever he had been thinking had immediately been lost as he opened the door to Cortana's naked form reaching for a pair of panties in the floor. His first instinct was to ignore her nudity as he had often done in training with his brothers and sisters. There had never been anything sexual about it since their augmentations along with their indoctrination had all but suppressed their libido and the Spartans never thought twice about it as it had been routine for them to bathe together when they had been younger but it had made for a couple of interesting moments when they would be sparring in the nude and new personnel would walk in the barracks unannounced delivering their freshly cleaned laundry. That had been his first instinct anyways, but that is not what he had done. Instead he stared at her form for a few moments as they silently stared at one another, he in his training shorts with no shirt and her in the nude. Her body had developed a lot since he had seen it in the suspension tank all those months ago. Then her body had the appearance of a teenage girl. Now it was that of a young woman in her twenties. He had never invested, nor had ever had time, much into the finer things humanity had to offer, such as the fine arts, but he refused to believe that anything on Earth or beyond could match Cortana. He probably would have stared at her for longer had she not started to giggle at him. And then the giggles turned into outright laughter.

"I don't believe I have ever seen you embarrassed before John."

John, not knowing what to do or say, removed his eyes from her turning around to give her a bit of privacy since he didn't know if she was as open as his fellow Spartans were. He grunted out an almost inaudible "sorry" and was about to leave the room when he felt her cool body press against his back and her arms wrap around him.

"Don't be."

Before John knew what to do with himself, she had thrown on a pair of shorts and tank-top and moved toward the door.

"Wash up and I'll make some breakfast for us Spartan."

He looked down at her nodded awkwardly and head for the bathroom to take a quick shower. It was the first time he could remember that he wanted it to be cold.

As the former AI stared at the cookbook that Pandora had given her as a housewarming present she couldn't help but smile at the encounter with John earlier.

I don't think he was expecting that.

For some reason, it gave her great pleasure knowing that John was literally awestruck by her body. She knew this was the emotions he was feeling because she still could read her Spartan like a book.

Speaking of books…

She thought it almost odd that Pandora of all people would give a paper bound cookbook instead of a database with every known recipe but it seemed to be something that Pandora had used previously and for a very long time if the wear of the corners and the smudges on the paper were any indicator. Cortana felt another warm feeling overcome her, something she was enjoying getting used to. Pandora saw her as a friend. Or at least that's what Cortana had come to think of their relationship as and she had to admit, she enjoyed it. And as it turned out, cooking seemed to be something else she enjoyed.

How does the saying go? Life is good.

As she carefully walked over to the refrigerator to grab some eggs, making sure to use the counter for support, she began to think back to John's reaction earlier. To her surprise, it was not the embarrassed face of her partner that she couldn't get out of her mind, rather it was the image of John's bare muscled chest. She began to feel hot and couldn't tell if it was the stove in front of her making her that way or her memory. Letting her mind run away from her, she didn't hear the door open behind her and someone enter the kitchen.

"I wonder…"

"Wonder what?"

Cortana was so surprised that her hand slipped from the counter and she would have fallen had a pair of strong hands not caught her.

"Maybe you shouldn't wonder"

"Maybe you shouldn't sneak up on me"

John smiled as he helped her up and she scowled at him. "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

"Of course not. Why would I do that?"

There it was again, the playful, flirtatious attitude that John seemed to reserve only for her. This was the second time he had done this and she decided it was her turn. She mustered up what she thought was a playfully innocent voice and said,

"Maybe you thought I was still naked?"

Before he could react, she took advantage of John holding her at the waist and turned around in his arms and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Before the startled Spartan knew what to say, Cortana slipped out of his hands and went back to cooking.

"Pass me a couple of eggs please"

Cortana smirked as John carefully grabbed a few eggs and handed them to her, his face still a bit red from her statement and no doubt him remembering their earlier incident.

Cortana 2, John 1. Today is starting out lovely.

AN: Short chapter. Sorry for the long update time. Life has been hectic and stressful but luckily I have recently gotten a new schedule that allows me to write some more so I think I'm going to finish this story out and start trying to update weekly or bi-weekly at the longest.

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