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[marineris]

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[marineris]

It's easy enough that she can get through the airlock by herself, actually, propelling herself with gentle touches. Now that she has a goal, it's easier to focus, and easier not to think about everything that happened on the Behemoth.

"What's the plan? Have you guys decided?"

[donkeyballs]

"A little. Gonna head back and dock at Titan to restock - we ran through all our medical supplies and a bunch more besides. Then, uh - then I think Holden has some sort of plan, but. Titan, first."

It was the closest major Port that wouldn't take them weeks to get back to.

He followed along behind Bobbie, his magboots hissing and clicking with every step, one arm extended as if ready to catch her, at any time.

[marineris]

Her magboots click when they lock onto the floor, and it isn't nearly as comfortable to walk, but she manages. The medbay isn't far, anyway, and once they reach it she eases herself down into a chair.

"Titan works." She shoots him a smile. "Think you can have me healed up by then?"

[donkeyballs]

"You'll be feelin' better in a couple days," he assured her, returning a smile that still was a little too tired. "It won't be fully healed for a week or so, but they got the slug out durin' surgery and got you stitched up, so now we just gotta let the auto doc do its work."

He wet his lips, and then quieter: "I'm just glad you're alright. For a minute there, I..."

[marineris]

"It could have been worse. I got lucky."

And she considers herself damn lucky one of her marines didn't shoot him. Bobbie slips her arm through the cuff, and her voice softens, too.

"When the speed limit changed, I was afraid you didn't make it."

[donkeyballs]

"Almost didn't," he admitted a little sheepishly. "If Naomi hadn't come found us, not sure I would have woke up enough to get to an autodoc."

He leaned over, pressing a few buttons and giving the machine some instructions. "I gotta be honest, I was hopin' that you weren't even in the ring. Thought maybe you were on a different ship in the flotilla, and-- I just didn't want to think about you put here, probably dead--"

[marineris]

Bobbie just watches him for a moment, studying his face. "I know what you mean." She hadn't let herself think about it, either. The chances of him surviving were so low, she couldn't even let herself consider it, not when she had a mission to complete and people to protect. Still, it had crept in.

"Hey, we're okay, yeah? We made it."

[donkeyballs]

He paused, looking back at her, and offered a smile that was very relieved.

"Yeah. Yeah, we did." He paused, swallowed, and dropped his eyes. "A lot of other people didn't, but I- does it make me an asshole that I'm just happy that you did?"

[marineris]

She frowns, shakes her head. "No." She'd lost friends on the Xuesen, and losing Alex on top of them would have been a blow too much. She's not sure how she would have handled it. "It doesn't make you an asshole."

[donkeyballs]

He felt guilty, for making her tell him that - for asking that - with so many people dead. But it still somehow made him feel better. So he just nodded, and then reached out to squeeze her hand, just once, before letting go again.

"I better go - need to get this girl on her way and outta here. You get some rest. You need anything, you just call up over the comm, alright?"

[marineris]

"Yeah," Bobbie responds, squeezing back. There's a part of her that wishes he didn't have to leave, which is ridiculous. It's not like he's going far. "You get some rest too."

[donkeyballs]

"Yeah."

He hesitates, visibly, wrestling with something, and then - quickly but not so quickly as to obviously be rushing - he leans down and presses a kiss to her forehead. He doesn't wait around for the reaction, leaving before she could complain, his heart beating a little too hard in his chest for something so simple.

He sets the course, and he tries to rest. Even gets into his bunk and stares at the ceiling. But a little voice keeps nagging at him to check on her, and eventually he gives in, padding down to see her while everyone else on board is asleep.

[marineris]

Bobbie isn't expecting it at all, and her mouth opens automatically to say something, but nothing comes. He's gone before she can get herself together, and then she's left to wrestle with the way her heart is racing and the urge to go after him. She doesn't, though. What would she even say?

Still, her thoughts are racing so much that it takes a while to get to sleep, and as soon as she hears the door slide open, she's awake again, forcing herself upright. She's pulled her hair out of its bun, and it's a bit of a mess, curling around her shoulders.

"Couldn't stay away, huh?"

[donkeyballs]

He'd been hoping she'd be asleep - but no, she's up again, and he can't tell if he feels glad or not. Her hair is out, which always has the effect of making her look softer than she actually is. He likes seeing her 'at ease' in this way, though the first words out of her mouth make him feel sheepish for being there at all.

"Couldn't sleep," he said, and it was mostly the truth. He didn't have to say it was because of her that he couldn't sleep. "Figured I could lie there worrying about it, or I could come and check on you and know if I needed to be worried. You get any rest?"

[marineris]

"You don't need to be worried. The autodoc's doing its job."

She sits up more fully, slipping her arm from the cuff. "I slept some. Did you sleep at all?"

Come on, Alex.

[donkeyballs]

"Uh- not exactly, no. Got a decent shower, at least." Managed to get all the blood off his hands. Which was, honestly, most of the point. Less than half a day ago, he was holding Bobbie's insides intact with his bare hands, and now here she was, healing far faster than evolution had given her right to. It wasn't his fault that his monkey brain was still terrified of losing her.

"I- just wanted to check. That's all." And he felt god damned stupid for it.

[marineris]

"I get it." She would have done the same thing, if their positions were reversed, and honestly, she appreciates it. It's nice having him around. She's just not going to let herself think about that kiss, even if it was chaste by any standard. "If you're not going to sleep, at least sit."

[donkeyballs]

He considered, for half a second, making up an excuse to leave. But the honest truth was that he wanted to be here, even if just to let himself fucking relax and accept the fact that she was alive.

And here.

She was here, too.

So after a few seconds hesitation, he grabbed one of the magnetic chairs and pulled it over next to her and sat down. "You're feelin' alright, though? Painkiller level okay?"

[marineris]

"I'm okay," she replies, firm but gentle. He doesn't seem quite ready to believe her, so after a second of hesitation, she offers him her hand. "I'll bounce back. Trust me."

[donkeyballs]

This time, he doesn't hesitate - taking her hand as soon as it was offered, mostly because he needed the comfort over anything else. He squeezed it warmly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. Not even a damn hybrid could take you down, what's one little bullet?"

What's one little bullet and a hell of a lot of blood, gushing through his fingers...

[marineris]

"Now you've got it." She shoots him a smile, running her thumb over the back of his hand. "But thanks for holding my guts in."

Maybe gallows humor isn't the best strategy, here, but it's the only one she's got.

[donkeyballs]

It's not the humour, that helps. Her thumb does, though, and her smile, and the grip on his hand. The thumb helps the most, even though his skin there feels far more ticklish than it should.

"I'd say anytime, but - I'd really rather prefer it if you didn't make bleedin' out a habit," he admitted, offering a sheepish smile in return.

[marineris]

"I'll see what I can do."

After everything that's happened, it's nice to just sit here alone with him, having a normal, stupid conversation. Contentment settles over her, and she tries to soak it in while she can.

"What's everyone else up to? Asleep?"

[donkeyballs]

"Yeah. Or, well, in bed anyway. I have a feelin' Naomi and the Cap might be up to somethin' other than sleepin', for a little while." There was a slight pause, before he quickly followed it up with: "Amos is probably out like a goddamn light, though."

He adjusted his hand, a little, so that he could run his own thumb gently over the backs of her fingers.

"We've got about a day, before we hit the ring, then four or five, before we reach Titan."

[marineris]

She makes a face at that, her grip tightening. "Don't update me on Holden's sex life." And then she adds, a bit more on topic, "Is that pilot-speak for 'hurry up and wait'?"