Page 174 of Every Almost

"Well," Charlie said. "It did go well."

"That is entirely true," Torvax said.

"The crew really seemed to enjoy it, Captain. Of that, I think I can confirm. In fact, Tavi's already planning the next one."

"Of course he is," Reyna commented.

"You know it, Cap," Tavi said from behind her, causing Reyna to turn around slowly to regard him. He flashed her a smile that spread over half his face.

"And Borran cooked," Charlie continued.

"Of course he did," Reyna responded, turning back to Charlie.

"Maren ended up remembering every single song I played, in order."

Reyna laughed softly. "Of course she did."

Charlie smiled at Reyna's laugh. Then they locked eyes, and the sincerity behind Reyna's gaze caught Charlie slightly off guard.

"The next one," Reyna said. "I will be there."

"Captain, I've already accepted the apology. I know you're busy. You really don't have to?—"

"I will be there, Charlie." Reyna's voice was stoic, quiet, and determined, with no room for argument.

Charlie nodded. "Okay."

"Okay."

Charlie watched as Reyna's eyes moved back and forth between her own. But then Reyna picked up her datapad again, tapping to pull up a screen. Something about the way Reynamoved back into "Captain Mode" made Charlie miss how Reyna usually spoke with her, their banter and fun.

Miss?

"Now, are you ready to conduct your updates?" Reyna asked, reigning Charlie back in.

"Uh, yeah. Sure," Charlie responded.

Reyna nodded once, looking back at her datapad. "Perfect. So what is the status of the propulsion calibration?"

And just like that, everything goes back to being professional.

But when Charlie turned back to her console, she couldn't ignore that she felt the same feeling that rushed through her when Reyna initially promised to attend Earth Night.

"Strange," Tavi remarked quietly from his station, out of earshot of anyone besides Charlie. She looked over in his direction.

"What's that?"

Tavi spun in his chair, turning to face Charlie. "I don't know if I've ever heard of the Captain apologizing for something like that."

Charlie wasn't sure where this was going. "What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure yet," he answered. "But, I'm gonna keep an eye on it." And with a smile and a spin back, he returned to his console.

She didn't think about it, any of it. All she though about were the updates with Reyna and moved on with her day.

What didn't work was she was too self-aware to notice she was consciously making herselfnotthink about it. Any of it.

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