[Santo - Serenity]

[walk_ins]

[ master post]

This is where the magic happens.

Most people will come in through Milliways and exit out the cargo bay to go have some fun. But some might need to take detours. And of course, some people live here.

Some people work here, too -- especially if they're working on repairs.

Comments

[gonna_live]

Kaylee was working on repairs.

And then it got late. And then (perhaps more to the point) she took a miniature fountain (or that's what it seemed like) of coolant to... everywhere. In stumbling back, she fell over -- knocking over a chest of tools (with four or five shelves) in the process, spilling the contents all over the deckplating.

During her (hour-long) shower, she had a good long cry.

And when she comes in, she drops the small basket with her soap and peripherals right by the door, hangs her towel on its hook, and bypasses what she's supposed to be doing (and ignores what he's supposed to be doing) in order to slip her arms around Simon (who's at the desk with some complicated diagram of somebody's guts or something in front of him) from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"You smell good," she murmurs against his neck. "Hold still. No movin'."

[simon_doctor]

Obediently, he holds still. Well, mostly; he does set down the stylus he's holding, and reach up to stroke the back of her arm.

"So do you," he smiles. "Is that the citrus shampoo?"

[gonna_live]

"On top of the stuff don't smell like nothin' but chemicals." Sheerly grumpy.

[simon_doctor]

That tone he knows, though it doesn't sound like she's grumpy at him.

"You sound exhausted. Is the refitting work being that much trouble?"

[gonna_live]

Kaylee glances up.

There's a shell on the desk that wasn't there before.

Everybody else gets to go have shore leave. Literally.

"Well." She straightens up, wincing. "Depends on how you look at it. I mean, the ten hours of liftin' stuff and shovin' stuff and holdin' stuff in place with my shoulder while I bolt it in with both hands and I'm balancin' on one foot so I can actually reach all of it -- maybe that's not so much trouble."

That's also grumpy.

"But gettin' a gorram barrel of coolant dumped all over me by the one, two, and three lines to the reactor core?" She flounces -- no other word for it -- to the bed, where she sits on the edge. "That's somethin' I'd go so far as to call that much trouble. And meanwhile we're still sittin' here grounded, when we're supposed to be in the sky, and there's only so much I can get done and it's not like I ain't been pullin' fourteen and sixteen-hour days by this point, and it's just not goin' quick enough, no matter what."

[simon_doctor]

He winces in sympathy at the description of the coolant spill; by the time she's finished talking, he's frowning slightly.

"Do you need me to come and help again?"

[gonna_live]

"...when it's down to somethin' where I don't have to look over your shoulder all the time -- "

A sigh, and she looks up at him. "Don't take that the wrong way?"

(Her expression kind of suggests that she expects him to.

This is just the kind of day it has been.)

"Just -- you wouldn't want me goin' and slicin' on somebody while you went to make sure you was all stocked up on whatever."

[simon_doctor]

"No, you're right," he says quickly. "I don't have the training to try working with the engines without you telling me what to do."

A beat. Two beats.

"...Kaylee, have you had a break from this at all yet? Since we've been here?"

[gonna_live]

"...maybe you're missin' the part where we're here at all 'cause the ship don't work? And that's my job?"

[simon_doctor]

"Yes, but -- it's going to be a long process. You can't ... are you seriously planning to do it all in one piece? And only stop to eat and sleep?"

He's turned in his chair to face her.

[gonna_live]

"Simon, that's my job."

He ought to understand that.

"The ship don't work, I don't stop workin'. That's how it goes."

[simon_doctor]

Simon frowns again, but doesn't press the point. (For the moment.)

"Well."

He stands up, and makes his way across the room to sit on the bed next to her.

"Do you have an estimate for how much longer it will take?"

[gonna_live]

"Days." Kaylee pulls up her feet and sits crosslegged. "Three, four. Maybe more."

[simon_doctor]

He takes a breath.

"Then you're going to need a break before it's over."

[gonna_live]

"Don't mean I can get it."

There's still that stupid shell on the desk. Her eyes are on it. "Now can we just -- "

"Never mind." She scoots back on the bed. "You finish up whatever that was. I'm gonna sleep."

[simon_doctor]

His brow furrows in another, slightly worried frown.

But ... she must be exhausted. No point drawing her into an argument right now.

"All right," he says, quietly. "Want the light off?"