Page 236 of Every Almost

“I—” Maren’s voice trailed off.

The less than three inches became three feet so fast Charlie felt the air physically move as Reyna moved outside the shaft, leaving Charlie against the console. Professional distance snapped back into place like a bulkhead sealing, instant and total, and the bay that had been the warmest place in the universe half a second ago went cold to the inside of its walls.

"Sorry," Maren said, with the stricken precision of a woman whose perfect memory had just witnessed something she could never forget, even if she had the ability to do so. "The report. It... uh... it can wait. I'll—" She was already backing away. "It can wait."

And then she was gone.

Charlie and Reyna stood in the flooded bay, three feet apart, still soaked to the skin, purposefully not looking at each other. Somewhere overhead a line dripped coolant still, and it glowed on, indifferent around their boots.

"I should—" Reyna started.

"Yeah," Charlie said quickly.

Neither of them said a damn thing, most especially not what they should. Instead, Reyna turned and moved toward the bay doors, the captain's composure back in place. She didn't look back.

Charlie let her go because the only other option was to follow her. And no matter what way she looked at it, Charlie had just found out exactly how much she truly wanted to.

And that was the most dangerous thing she'd learned since crash-landing aboard the Emberkind.

Charlie stood alone in the glowing water. She stood there for however many minutes, pressing both hands flat against the console, bowing her head before taking a deep breath.

She could still feel the one hard pulse of Reyna's gold markings under her fingertips. And those three inches, the waythey closed in and had almost stopped existing between them, alongside the exact temperature of the air around them.

She didn't remember reaching for her datapad. It was just in her hand one moment, the way it always was after nights like this. The music library was open, her thumb was already moving toward the button to add it to her playlist the way it had a hundred times before on tons of songs, without her once ever stopping to ask why she kept?—

She stopped.

The song was already cued. She could see the title sitting there, plain as day, one tap from the playlist like every song before it.

Never Tear Us Apart.

And for one second, standing in glowing water with her hand still remembering the shape of Reyna's jaw, Charlie looked at the title, knowing it was a perfect fit. The words were INXS's, but the feelings were hers.

She added it to the playlist because that was the only thing she knew to do.

She had much bigger things on her mind.

THIRTY-TWO

SHE’S NICE

Kess foundher in the Observation Room.

Reyna had not made the decision to come here. She just found her way somehow, because the only other place to be was her quarters, and there was nothing but to lie there in the dark and feel three inches of air shrinking over and over again.

With the door open the way it always was, Kess walked in and crossed to where Reyna sat, taking a place at the far end of the same bench. Reyna was grateful but said nothing, just as she and Kess had said most of the important things for thirteen years.

For a while the only sound was the ship. Reyna held her gold and made it look effortless. But she knew, even as she did it, that she was wasting the effort. The performance had never once worked on Kess, and Reyna was certain it wasn’t going to start now.

"Your heart rate stayed elevated for forty-seven minutes after the incident in Engineering," Kess said quietly, breaking the silence. "Yet the cascade was resolved in twelve."

And there it was.

Reyna did the math before she could stop herself.

Thirty-five minutes.

Thirty-five minutes her body had spent in a state no manifold failure would explain. Kess had done the same math an hour ago and come all the way up here to sit with the answer beside her. She wouldn't ask for a thing from Reyna. She'd simply leave space open for her.