This was dangerous ground, and she knew better than to bait him. "Mmm." A nice, non-committal answer; if there were a fight to be picked, she certainly wasn't going to pick it. She continued carefully, painstakingly repairing the dent in her armor.
Wash widened his eyes, the epitome of childlike innocence with bad fashion sense. "Is that a no? Because to me that sounds like a no. So is it a no? Just making sure we're on the same page here."
And that tone? Zoe knew that tone, that sickly-sweet tone that covered sarcasm so well. Oh yeah, there was going to be blood. Probably hers. "Mmm." She wasn't about to give him the in he wanted. You wanna hang yourself, husband, you do it with your own line.
He sat for a moment, fingers tapping rapidly on the metal arm of the chair. "That's because we didn't have one!" Wash threw his hands in the air in exasperation, leaping out of his seat to pace in the three small steps separating them.
"Not so, husband," Zoe still hadn't looked up at him, because meeting his eyes? That way lie madness. "We went to Corona. Had a hotel room and everything."
Unfortunately, Wash was not so easily deterred. "In which we were shot! Do you remember that part, Zoe? The part with the guns and the shooting and -- and the GUNS? There were guns. Remember? Guns?"
Zoe sighed and set her work aside, looking up and folding her hands serenely in her lap. She knew he was winning, but she didn't really have the patience to continue the game. There was work to be done, and soothing a man took time. "Bad luck, is all. Timing."
"Timing! Timing, she says! Timing!" He was really gorram adorable when he flailed like that, all hateful in his innocent frustration. If she were any other woman, she'd reach out and pinch his cheek. Luckily for both of them, she wasn't. "Happening to be on the same planet with a spurned thief doesn't seem much like a timing issue to me." He paused a moment and scrubbed his hands through his dishevelled hair, suddenly looking a little nervous. "We gotta fix that, you know?"
Zoe didn't bother saying anything, she just looked up at him with eyebrows raised.
Wash suddenly got down on his knees, fishing an envelope out of his pocket and handing it across to her almost shyly. She unfolded the packet reverently; having paper scraps were rare, now. Usually everything was just pulled off the Cortex, so this had to be something special. She squinted at the paper, heavy-duty card stock, and made out that these were two tickets for a week-long pleasure cruise on Paradise Third. She just stared, wordlessly, as Wash looked back at her with earnest eyes.
"Happy anniversary, baby."