He falls into her on purpose and grabs at her hips. "What, right now? I thought you were taken."

She pushes him away and off of her before he can get any more hands on her.

"Fuck off. We're saying goodbye now. Remember you have to ping me once I'm on the other side. You remember the codes?"

"Gonna make him do it for me."

"No. He mightn't be able to get to you." She pulls him back closer and wraps around his shoulder, faces close. "Repeat after me and remember. This is important.."

He kisses her and wraps around her waist again, pulling her flush. "Don't go, Joss. This is all bullshit. Not even gonna tell me whats going on."

She bites his lip, but doesn't pull away. "You don't need to know. It's better. I'll tell you everything when we meet up at the checkpoint."

Bloody kiss.

"Fine. I remember, you don't need to repeat it."

Relieved sigh. She knew that. But she couldn't have taken the chance. "Thank you. It's important. Maybe the most important thing."

"So of course you're trusting me with it."

"Would you have preferred I ask Bran?"

He squeezes her hip tight. "I'm your man, Joss."

"Of course you are."

As the last few items are loaded onto the ship, Dr. Valentine Morgenstern finally steps out of the shuttle at the edge of the port. A small circle of security surrounds him, and there is a box in his arms, held carefully and with purpose.

He pauses in front of the open shuttle door once he's on his feet, searching the spaceport crowd as he waits.

Joss pushes Paris away then and walks over to him. She ignores his security.

"I thought you might have stood me up, Doctor."

So many months after they met, the deer in the headlights has left his expression when he looks at her. It's all fondness with just a hint of nerves, now.

"Of course not, Sergeant." He offers the box, "I've brought your package."

She ignores the box, steps closer to him and unbuttons his suit jacket. "Are you sure you don't wanna come along? It's been so long since you've been off-world. I could show you all the cool places."

His smile turns wry as he watches her fingers.

"I can't abandon my projects, can I?"

She straights his shirt, but her other hand is on his waist. "Not even for me?"

"I'm afraid not," he is mostly unaffected by her actions, aside from the slight pink tint high in his cheeks.

The box is small, yet he still doesn't want to hold it off to the side in just one hand. Even if care isn't strictly necessary. Unfortunately, this means he can't do anything about the fondling.

(The security around him are alternately amused and exasperated.)

She moves closer still, now pressing against him. Unconsciously mirroring her and Paris' actions from before.

"Maybe we could sneak away for a little bit? I'm sure the crew could use a more time on prep."

He quirks a smile, leaning in to give her a slow kiss.

Mmmm. Her hand is under his shirt now and touching his back. She kisses him, making an effort to convince him.

After a moment, he pulls away.

"No."

He nudges the box between them into her chest.

- she laughs. It's loud and startles the security closest to her. "Tease. Okay, fine. But you better send me those pictures you promised. A girl can't go so long without something."

Okay now he's noticeably blushing.

"I-" he half glances at one of his guards, who is studiously examining the crates off to his left, "-Yes, alright. I wouldn't want to deprive you." The flush deepens, but then so does his smile, into a bit of a smirk.

She likes the smirk. She reaches up to touch it. "I'll see you in two months, doc. Don't let that flirty nurse seduce you in the meanwhile. I have his ticket."

"I'm a one-person man, Joss," he kisses her touch, "I would never."

Now she's the one blushing. Who is she and what has he done with Joss Fray.

"Come on, now." He takes one of her hands, slipping it under the box, "The sooner you leave, the sooner you'll return."

Her attention is all on him and only a little bit on the box. Just enough to not drop it. "I'll ping you once we're on the other side. Make sure you get access to the net. I don't wanna land and be standing there with no idea where I'm going."

"Certainly not. The next step in the process will be ready for you when you land."

He steps back a bit, leaving the box to her.

"Safe travels."

Her fingers twitch under the box, but she holds it steady. She huffs loudly and looks over to the closest security. "You watch that nurse too, mate. You know the one I'm talking about."

And with that, she turns and makes her way over to the ship which is now ready and waiting on her.

The guard laughs, startled, but he does also call, "Aye, Sergeant!" To her retreating back. Val's soft sigh fades from hearing as she reaches the ship.

She's a big old girl, a cargo vessel made to make long haul trips out to colonies off the sparse grid of rebuilt relays throughout the galaxy. Probably thirty, forty years old, past her prime, but still fast enough to get from the nowhere planet where they stand to the station at relay point thirteen within a standard month. Which is the important bit.

Just to the side of the cargo door, the Lagrange's SIC - a tall human man, bulky spacer's jacket draped over his arm in the relative heat planet-side - is directing the last few cargo crates upwards, between chatting with a customs agent. He waves the woman off as Joss approaches with the package.

"That it?" He asks once she's in range.

"Just me and my box. May I come aboard, capitaine?"

He eyes the box for a second, before nodding and turning to lead her up to ramp.

The cargo bay is about half full with goods from the colony, mainly food and raw materials. There's a carefully sealed crate of eezo in the secure storage as well, from the small mine that makes this colony valuable enough to be counted as part of Alliance Space, despite the inconvenience of reaching it.

Alex leads their guest out of the bay and into the corridors. The crew bustles by them, preparing for lift-off, some of them heading to the bay, some towards the lifts, some going in and out of the nearby engineering bay, some heading up the corridor to the crew quarters for one last long water shower before the water lines get detached. They follow the second group to the lifts, and from there up to the officers' cabins.

"We keep a cabin free for guests. Your luggage should already be in there," he says as they step off the lift. "If anything's missing, let someone know and we'll dig it out for you after we're on our way."

"This is luxury compared to the barracks. We're timesharing beds and blankets, the whole lot. Any place I shouldn't be?"

He shrugs, "Cargo bay. Engineering. Other peoples' quarters. I mean, if you get invited in, feel free, just don't go into engineering without someone watching you."

Here's her door now. He opens his tool to tap into the security on it, flicking it over to her, "Accept and it'll open for your tool."

"Don't know shit about engines, I'm good." She flicks her wrist and her tool accepts. "Meal times?"

"Every six hours starting at oh-five-hundred, for two hours. Ship time, twenty-four hour clock, it's twenty-one-oh-seven right now. Next meal starts at twenty-three-hundred." 

"Copacetic. You been on this haul long? I don't make it up to port often."

"Year and a half," he says, crossing his arms, "We run this route every three months, usually, cycling with another long haul from thirteen. Steady work."

"Steady but shit. I know the feeling. We came out for a gig and got stuck. This is my first time I'm off-planet since. Can't wait to get a real drink. Only thing we have access to is batarian stock."

He makes a face, "I got a stock of decent eden whiskey," he offers, "Bit of icewine, too. And the engineers've been brewing something they think I don't know about, if you wanna risk whatever that is."

"Risk is my middle name. I'll grab some for the both of us. Saves you tipping your hand."

He snorts, "Appreciate it. Wouldn't wanna end their science experiment early."

"Of course. For the science," she laughs and opens up the door to her quarters. She notes all her luggage - a standard military duffel and one carefully placed guitar case - and then puts her box up on the shelf above the bed.

Alex notes the guitar before anything else.

"You play?"

Pff. "You could say that."

Blink, "Okay, am I missing something," he turns to squint at her through the doorway.

"I dunno. Are you?" She gestures towards the guitar, offering him a chance to open it up and take a look.

Well, alright. He crosses the room and pulls it up onto the bed, cracking the case open to take a look at the guitar inside.

Then he looks over at her, then back at the guitar. Then back at her.

"Hang on- your ID said Fairchild, but-"

"Family name. Took on Fray because my mum would die and start rolling around in her grave if I went public as Jocelyn Fairchild. Plus I just like it."

He visibly controls his reaction.

"I, uh. Like your stuff."

She laughs at his reaction. Or non-reaction. "I like our stuff too. Too bad you missed out on meeting the others. The boys always love meeting fans."

"They're back there too? What's Reaver doing on a nowhere colony?"

She sits down on the bed and pulls up one leg. "Like I said, we came here on a gig. Cheer up the backwater crowd. But me 'n Paris went a bit overboard and trashed the venue. Got caught in a contact to pay it off, and then stayed around after. It's not so bad. Pete's off somewhere on Earth now and Luke's up on the Citadel, but Bran is still around."

"Huh. Is the band broken up, then?"

"Never. They're just not too keen on merc work. Bran's been working on something. We meet back up every other month to move that along together."

"Glad to hear it."

The tone of the ship changes under them, subtly. Alex glances out the cabin window, then flicks his fingers for the time.

"They're unhitching now. Gotta head up to the bridge." He steps back from the bed, lowering the guitar lid and re-securing the latches. "Talk to you later, yeah?"

"Hooch and tunes?"

Snort, "Looking forward to it."

Out he goes, the cabin door closing behind him.

She waits until she can no longer hear his footsteps. Then she engages the privacy screen, shielding all light and sound.

"Uncloak now. We don't want to run the battery down too much."

The corner shimmers and she appears. She doesn't unball herself and keeps still, holding tight to her knees.

"Can I go online now?"

"No. Keep offline and out of the system. We don't know what sort of security they have and we're not going to risk it."

"Jax got through them easy. He hardly even touched the locks and they opened for us."

"Even so. Stay offline. You remember what your father said."

She does. She doesn't want to. She wants him here and Joss to be elsewhere and for this not to be happening.

The box on the shelf unfolds a little, revealing a small lens in its side. A projection flickers out of it: a young boy in full colour, seated at the bottom of Joss' bed.

"You can still talk to me Sephie," he reminds her. "Father said she should go online through me a few times a week, just to make sure no one notices her gone," he adds to Joss.