Late Night Fun With Aoi

Leo looked down at the small sleeping weight on his chest.

Chloe hadn't stirred. 

Her belly was full of warm blood and her breathing had sunk deep and slow with her fist still knotted in his shirt. 

He eased her fingers loose one at a time, lifted her as carefully as he'd ever lifted anything and laid her down under the heavy thermal blanket, and she curled into a contented ball in the warm hollow he'd left behind. 

He tucked the covers over her shoulders, waited by the edge of the mattress until her soft snores settled into a steady rhythm, then slipped out into the hallway with the comm-link in his palm.

The living corridor was dim and quiet. 

He walked past Harper's quarters, where the metallic scent of gun oil seeped through the vent seam, past Elena's locked hatch, and stopped in front of Cabin Three.

TAP-TAP!

The latch disengaged with a muted pneumatic sigh, and the panel slid back into the bulkhead.