AN: Prompt fill for the wonder galfridian on tumblr :)

In the confusion of returning to the ship after the events in Baltimore, she doesn't speak to Captain Chandler until the following evening. Even then, it's a quick catch-up on the status of the lab, before he rushes off to organize the services for the men and women lost in the previous day's combat. Rachel watches as he leaves and wonders when she'll be able to have a proper conversation with the man again.

In the meantime, there's an eerie silence across the ship, the decks empty more often than not and the few members of the crew who do wander through the p-ways don't show the easy camaraderie they'd all fallen into in the previous months.

Instead, it feels like those first tentative days after she'd revealed the truth about the virus to the Captain; there had been an uneasy tension across the ship back then, when no one wanted to admit that they thought the world was doomed.

The Nathan James is mourning and Rachel hates it. She can cure the virus that's eradicating the human population but she can't stop the crew, the people she's come to consider friends, from processing their grief over fallen families and shipmates.

Night has fallen and Rachel relaxes slightly into the large chair Captain Chandler had once occupied, the night she'd told him about her breakthrough with that very first vaccine prototype. She tucks her legs up underneath her and huddles further into her warm jumper, hands cupping gently around her steaming cup of tea. It's a still night, the ship moving gently across the waves. Rachel watches the rise and fall of the waves from her seat, catches the odd glimpse of the wake and the illusion of marine life in the darkness that surrounds the Nathan James.

She senses his presence before she sees him, and Rachel wonders if she should find that unnerving. She's barely known the man half a year, and yet there's something about him that pulls her to him, something that urges her to stay in his vicinity. Any notion of a romantic relationship with the captain is ridiculous; his wife has been dead for less than a fortnight for a start, and Rachel isn't even sure what she feels for Thomas Chandler.

Probably a misplaced notion of safety and security if she thinks about it, and a little bit of romanticized hero-worship if she's honest with herself.

Rachel tracks his movement as he steps fully out of the nearby door. He walks past her in his chair, merely raising an eyebrow in question before moving to lean back against the railing. The captain folds his arms across his chest and eyes her warily, and Rachel can't help the little flush that prickles over her neck as she's placed under his unwavering gaze.

"Will you stay in Norfolk? If the lab's operational?" Chandler asks hesitantly after a few moments of silence. There's no greeting; they've come too far for simple small talk. "There are plenty of people there to help you co-ordinate the cure's production."

Rachel smiles and shakes her head slightly.

"I couldn't," she starts, before she pauses. What she'd said to Tex comes back to her in those few moments ("You care for these people more than you choose to admit…")Admitting that she'd miss everyone on the James is harder than she realizes, so she tries to find a reason for her answer that might go some way to satisfying Captain Chandler's potential curiosity.
"I'd be able to organize the staff for a time, but there's no need for me to take over their operations completely; I'm more helpful over the secure feed. And it's pointless me heading to Florida to be with Doctor Hunter; he's perfectly capable of maintaining the upkeep of his lab without me hovering over him."

Chandler doesn't say anything, just continues watching her before he asks another question.

"So what will you do?"

Rachel can tell he's fishing for an answer about her intentions, but whether it's through genuine interest over her plans or a need to identify how many mouths he needs to feed is unclear.

She gets up off the chair, careful to place her half full cup on by its side. Rachel moves towards the man before her, taking a place next to him but keeping her attention on the waves that ebb and flow around the ship. The captain turns and leans against the railing, but doesn't say a word; he remains silent, awaiting her response to his question.

"Well," she starts, the same hesitant tone in her voice that she'd heard from him mere seconds ago, "I was wondering about the possibility of me staying on-board." She takes the opportunity to look up at him, focuses on the way his profile looks in the dim light; he looks as exhausted as she feels.

When he doesn't answer she feels the need to justify her reasoning.

"I mean, the lab's already established, and with the new supplies we should be able to produce more of the cure than we were previously able to."

There's still silence from the man beside her, and Rachel can't tell if he's angry or considering her argument. He doesn't look at her, and she wonders if he's looking at the same waves as she is.

"That shouldn't be an issue," he says, finally, after a few minutes of contemplation. "It'd be a shame to see you leave after all we've been through."

He finally turns towards her, and there's a small smile on his lips. The gesture is enough to settle her sudden nerves and causes a small wave of relief to rush through her.

"I… uh… thank you Captain," she stutters, returning his smile. She hadn't expected it to be that easy, that he would still welcome her presence on his ship after everything that's happened.

Rachel pauses, and takes a deep breath before speaking again, voice quiet. "If I'm honest, I wouldn't really have known where to go if you'd said no; this ship, your crew, they feel like home to me now…"

The captain's eyebrows rise again in surprise, before he processes her words. Rachel glances at him, and notes the way he nods slightly and smiles again.

"I know exactly what you mean," is all he says, as he reaches up and squeezes her shoulder gently. Rachel tries not to lean into the touch, and merely nods in reply, turning her attention back to the waves before her. After a couple of seconds, the man beside drops his hand and turns his head.

The two of them look out into the ocean together, both lost in their own thoughts…