Page 242 of Every Almost

"Charlie," Tavi said, his tone soft. "With all due respect, why the hell would you do that?"

"Because," Charlie began. "I told her I'd only take it one way. And that was with the two of you. Ranked Co-Chiefs. Right beside me."

The words dropped into a silence that stretched.

"Charlie," Maren said quietly, her voice thick.

"I mean it," Charlie added. "Not as subordinates, but as equals. We are all Chief Engineers of the Emberkind." Charlie looked between them, and God, she was flooded with a love for them that transcended the universe, apparently. And suddenly, if she was going to go anywhere in space, she knew it would be with this odd little family she'd fallen into. "You two ran held this department together, dancing circles around Cael, long before I ever even showed up," she continued. "I am not going to stand at the top of this incredible ship that runs better than any machine I've ever worked on and pretend I did anything that you two didn't build, manage, and maintain from the ground up for over a decade." Charlie reached out and grabbed Maren's hand before reaching for Tavi, who leaned over the side of the crate and grabbed her other open palm. "There's no way I'd do it alone. So, I told her, all three of us, or I'm out."

"And she said yes," Tavi said, not as a question, his grin had gone soft at the edges.

"She said yes," Charlie repeated, her smile warm and open.

For a second, nobody said anything.

Then Maren rose from her chair, dropping Charlie's hand, crossed to her and pulled Charlie up in a hug, quick and fierce, her shimmer bright against Charlie's shoulder.

"Thank you," she said into Charlie's hair. And when she pulled back, her eyes had gone bright in a way Charlie had never seen. "I have to go. I want to go call my sister and tell her before the comm window closes." But then she held Charlie's gaze a second longer. "I will not forget this, Charlie. Ever."

Which, from a Noethan, was about the biggest thing she could have said.

"Go on, Chief," Charlie said, and waved her off, still smiling.

Maren squeezed Charlie's hands before she turned to Tavi and gave him a high-five. Then she moved away from the table and went out of the bay.

Charlie let her smile sit with her for a while before turning to Tavi. He hadn't moved. He was still on his crate, his boots swinging, and was watching Charlie with his head tipped at an angle.

"What?" Charlie asked at his look as she grabbed her datapad from the table and walked back to the consoles.

Tavi jumped down off the crate and followed Charlie. He stood beside her, looking up at her with his same grin and his head still tilted.

"Please don't misunderstand this, Charlie, I am eternally in your debt for the awesome news you just shared, and I can't wait to get started." Tavi touched Charlie's forearm, fully grabbing her attention from her datapad. "But, are you good?"

Charlie looked down at him. "Yeah, Tav. Why wouldn't I be?"

Tavi just looked at Charlie. And the longer he looked, the more she felt her resolve crumble.

She sighed, letting her head fall back as her eyes closed.

"Yeah, okay," Tavi said. "That's what I thought." Tavi sat on the floor, indicating for Charlie to sit next to him. So, she did.

Charlie slid down onto the floor between two console banks, back against the bulkhead, and put her datapad to the side. Tavi sat next to her, close, with his legs crossed. He patted her knee once she settled next to him.

"I think we need some music," he said, turning to face Charlie. "Why don't you pick? Then, maybe, we can talk."

Charlie nodded against him and pulled her datapad into her lap. She opened the music program and went scrolling. She knew there would be a song here for this feeling. And she was right.

She pressed play on "Steal Away" by Robbie Dupree. She added it to her playlist as the song poured out about wanting to slip off somewhere alone with someone, to steal away together, away from everything and everyone else.

And as the song played, Charlie couldn't stop thinking of Reyna. The version of her she saw in the back of her mind who took her boots off at Earth Night and asked her, quiet and genuine, about thunderstorms.

"Good song," Tavi said. But then he was quiet. She knew he wouldn't rush her. Tavi was good at waiting when it counted, just as he was not good at waiting when that counted more. But he had a special talent of, somehow, always knowing the difference.

So, instead, they just talked with an easy, unforced cadence. Tavi made some joke about Borran's latest campaign to reverse-engineer Earth pasta, making Charlie laughed. And for one, brief, shining moment, it was just that. Two friends sitting together, on the floor of their job, laughing.

But then, almost against her will, Charlie's laughter ran out.

Charlie let it go quiet. She didn't crack another joke, or get up and find something to fix. She just sat there, listening to the song, listening to the bay's sounds, leaning against her friend because, right now, it was exactly what she needed.