Page 178 of Every Almost

The entire crew had their eyes on a Tessarae engineer standing on a chair and delivering an impassioned argument about one of the greatest bands on Planet Earth.

But Reyna was looking at Charlie, during a time when there was absolutely no reason to.

Reyna rose her eyebrows, then looked over at Tavi before returning to Charlie's gaze. Charlie smiled and then rolled her eyes, Reyna stifling a laugh in response. Her eyes were so bright and alive, Charlie had a hard time looking away. But Reyna didn't look away either. Their eyes locked and seconds ticked by, the activity continuing around them.

Charlie suddenly felt the edges of her vision begin to blur. Tavi's voice and the Led Zeppelin Initiative, even the library, all began to dissolve until it was just Reyna's amber eyes holding hers.

It took every ounce of effort for Charlie to break the gaze and turn back to Tavi. But even by refocusing on him and his presentation, she couldn't hear a word of it. Out of the corner of her eye, she shifted her gaze to Reyna again. But Reyna was no longer looking at her.

What look was that?

Tavi's voice suddenly broke through Charlie's brain fog as he wrapped up his whole talk with a dramatic pause. "In conclusion, if you listen to one thing from Earth, make it 'Stairway to Heaven.' But play it LOUD."

He bowed and the crew erupted in applause. Apparently, Tavi made the crew Led Zeppelin fans in six minutes. Charlie had to applaud for that harder than anyone.

He hopped off the chair, walked past Charlie, muttering, "I went thirty seconds over. Worth it."

"Worth it," Charlie agreed.

A short while later, the second Earth Night officially ended. And before Charlie could begin on any sort of clean-up help, Reyna approached her. The expression on her face gave Charlie a sense of pride. She turned fully to face the captain as she arrived.

"That wasincredible, Charlie," Reyna said, a glint in her eye.

"'Incredible,' huh?" Charlie replied with a smirk.

"Well, I have heard that there are some prettyincrediblethings aboard the Emberkind. And I have it on good authority it came from a very reliable and formidable source," Reyna teased.

"Reliable and formidable source?" Charlie repeated, mock pride in her voice. "You flatter me, Captain."

"Only where it is due."

Their eyes locked for the second time that night, and Charlie's world started to disappear at the edges again.

"But, in all honesty, Charlie. 'Incredible' is the only word to describe it. This was..." Reyna trailed off.

"Incredible?" Charlie supplied. Reyna rolled her eyes until she looked at Charlie and smiled, something genuine.

"That seems to be the only word that fits," Reyna supplied, teasing but truthful.

At Reyna's sincerity, Charlie felt the weight of the observation. This time, it felt earned. Reyna had called Earth Night 'incredible.' Not 'good job,' or even 'well done.' Butincredible,even if it did start out as a quip. It became specific, from a woman Charlie knew did not throw words around.

"Thank you, Reyna." The name still felt new on Charlie's tongue, even though it had been hers to use for weeks now, ever since Reyna had insisted on it. "I'm glad you came."

Reyna's eyes softened. "I made a promise."

And there it was again. That same feeling from Engineering, the one she'd tried not to think about. The immovable promise, kept.

Charlie watched Reyna walk away, beginning to feel nerves of what may be happening here.

"That's strike two, Spark Plug," Tavi stated, pulling Charlie from her thoughts.

"Strike two, Tav?"

Tavi nodded. "Strike two," he repeated, enunciating his words as he walked away.

One night,Charlie couldn't sleep. Her mind was running rampant, replaying the Earth Night evening. But it wasn't about the stories, or the music, or the crew's reactions. It was about Reyna. Her face, her eyes across the room. Reyna sayingincrediblewith a weight that turned their banter over the word into something that had a heartbeat. And no matter how hard Charlie tried, she couldn't control her mind's rampage.

Giving up, she just accepted that her mind wouldn’t let it go. She got up and decided to just walk the corridors, just as she had multiple nights now, using the movement and the exercise to push the excessive energy out of her system. She had to admit it had been a while since she'd last done so, now that she felt more at home and more comfortable on the ship, especially the more time she spent aboard. But it still worked, and was still her favorite way to work things out of her system.