"You ever thought 'bout makin' a family someday?"

The question startled Val out of her relaxed enjoyment of her morning cup of jasmine tea. She and Sam had been sitting together for her morning shift on the bridge, her with her tea and the blonde mechanic with her coffee. They'd been talking about several nonsensical topics, just enjoying each other's company, but she'd not had any indication their conversation might take such a serious turn.

Her first instinct was to simply laugh and blow the question off with a careless answer, but she stopped herself. She'd been making a serious effort not to put up any sort of facade, to express her real feelings and thoughts. Besides, she knows me well enough now that she can tell when I'm faking. The look of hurt in her blue eyes is more than I can take.

"I might have, long ago. But... what I was, what I became... Having a family was a liability." The petite brunette looked out of the viewport musingly. "I've never been... attached to someone before. I can't possibly fathom..." She sighed, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. Being truthful is difficult.

She felt Sam's strong fingers run through her brown tresses before she noticed that she'd even gotten out of her seat. Have I really become that relaxed around her? She didn't open her eyes, but instead allowed the soothing motions to return her back to her previous relaxed state.

"Weren't meanin' ta get ya worked up none," Sam whispered softly in her ear. "I gots better ways of doin' that."

Val let out a snort of laughter. "Very much so," she murmured. "However, while the Captain might tolerate our locking the engine room door while you're on shift, I imagine he'd have a different opinion if we were to do that on the bridge."

"Mmm," her lover sighed, brushing Val's cheek with her lips and causing her to shudder deliciously. "Well, then, you'll just hafta 'magine me gettin' ya all worked up proper-like."

She opened her eyes then, staring up into her favorite bright blue irises. "You always work me up. Proper-like."

Sam grinned as she leaned in for a kiss. "I'll make an honest Border woman outta ya yet," she murmured against her lips.

They shared a brief, tender kiss before Sam leaned back with a satisfied smile and returned to her seat. "Coffee's gettin' cold," she complained as she picked up her mug.

"I see how it is," Val joked with a sigh. "Already the temperature of your coffee is more important than the temperature of your girlfriend."

"Ain't true a'tall," Sam smirked. "Yer always smokin' hot."

The brunette snorted another laugh. Unfortunately she'd been taking a sip of her tea, and managed to snort some of said beverage through her nose.

"Ewww," Val complained quietly, holding her hand under her face. "That was..." She looked over at Sam, who was laughing hysterically, clutching her sides and trying very hard not to fall out of the chair.

"Piyan (asshole)," she smiled as she rose from her chair. "Just for that you can stay on my watch while I go clean up."

Sam acquiesced with a merry wave, unable to form a coherent word just yet.

By the time she returned, having cleaned off her light blue coveralls as well as her face, Sam was still giggling slightly. "It wasn't really all that funny," Val said loftily. She was unable to keep the smile off of herself, however.

An hour later Sam was perusing her Waves from her family, catching up with events back on Hera, while Val read through a systems manual of the avionics electrical systems.

Eventually, Sam looked up from her reading with a slight grin on her face. "Hey, babe... There's somethin' interestin' here."

"What's that, wo de ai?"

"My pop, he sez there's a sale goin' on the next month'r so over at the big ole boneyard right there on Hera. Fer ships."

Val blinked, setting down her handheld and giving her girlfriend her full attention. "Are they now," she said softly. "Are you saying... it's time?"

"I dunno," Sam whispered back. "Seems almost providence-like, we're headin' fer Hera right now, an' I gots this Wave from my pop. You've been on board fer almost a year now, figure that's more'n repayment of yer debt to the Capt'n. An 'sides," she grinned fully, "I wanna take ya ta meet my folks."

Val blinked once again, startled. "You... you do? Is that the sort of thing people do, meet their lover's family?" She blinked a few more times, trying to process this turn of events.

"Well, yeah," the blonde smirked at her. "Family's impor'nt ta me. An' I want 'em ta meet the girl who done stole my heart."

With those words, Val melted a little more inside. I can never deny you anything, she decided in that instant. "Alright then, we'll go meet your family. Um," she paused, mentally returning to their previous topic. "Are we leaving the Ferryman for good then? Or should we go and look into this boneyard first?"

"We gots a few days still, lemme Wave 'im back, ask 'im ta check out what they gots," Sam replied confidently. "He gots a good eye fer quality, be it critters or machines."

The next two days passed quickly enough. There were always duties to perform in keeping the large freighter running smoothly. But they had plenty of downtime as well, only some of which was taken in the recreation area. The two lovers spent much more time in their bunk together, as was their habit.

By the second day, while they were still another full day out from Hera, Sam bounced excitedly onto the bridge while Val had her shift. "Babe, I gots another Wave from my pop!"

Val quickly sat up in her chair. Her girlfriend's enthusiasm was infectious, and she found herself nodding eagerly. "What did he say about the boneyard?" she whispered.

"There's a coupla good deals there," Sam began, dropping down to her knees next to the pilot's seat and holding up her handheld. "He took some pics. These ones here, they're inside our budget even."

Val's eyes widened as she perused the half-dozen or so images. They were all small transports from what she could tell. Her untrained eye really had no way of discerning one model from another, though. "Are they... all good ships?"

The blonde gave a throaty laugh. "Oh, darlin', most definitely. See this one here," she continued excitedly, "it's a Shu Fu light transport, they call 'em Pillbugs, small lil' things but reliable as all get-out, plenty maneuverable an' a decent-sized hold. Then this one..."

Val sat back and basked in the glow of Sam's excitement. While she kept glancing down at the images, she devoted most of her attention to the way the blonde woman's face was so animated with glee. I don't really care what kind of ship we end up with. So long as you like it, and I'm with you, that's all that matters to me. Finally Sam stopped at the last picture, and Val actually peered closer at it.

"That one is pretty cute," she murmured.

"Cute?" Sam giggled. "Well yeah, I s'pose that's one way ta look at 'er. This's a Sandfly light transport, it's small an' plenty gorram affordable. They built 'em ta replace th' old Firefly Mark I's. See th' outboard engines here? They retract in while flyin'. An' the best part," she looked up intently at Val, her blue eyes sparkling, "it's an easy job fer just two crew ta keep runnin'."

"Really," Val mused, looking back at it. "I think... I think I really like that one. But, I really don't know any better," she backpedaled quickly, "You know so much more about ship classes and such, I shouldn't really have any sort of input-"

Sam cut her off by sealing her mouth over her own. The petite brunette moaned softly, losing herself in the feeling of those impossibly soft lips and silky warm tongue.

Val blinked as she realized that Sam had broken off the contact. "What was I saying?" she asked dazedly.

"You were sayin' some kinda pi hua (shit, nonsense) 'bout yer opinion not bein' impor'nt," the blonde replied smugly.

"Oh," Val said softly, staring up at her lover. "Pi hua?"

Sam nodded. "Yep. Pi hua. Ya gots as much say in what we're doin', 'cause we're a couple, an' that's what we do. Figure things out t'gether."

"Alright then," she replied with a sappy grin on her face.

Both girls jumped slightly at the clearing of a throat behind them. They spun guiltily to notice the Captain sitting in his chair, though he had it swiveled to the side to overlook the navigation station.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, ladies," Markum began, turning his chair back around to face them, "but from what I did hear, as I walked onto the bridge, it sounds like you might be planning on leaving my ship. Is that correct?"

"Um, yessir," Sam gulped. Val nodded nervously next to her. She didn't realize they'd both gotten to their feet, but she reached over to slip her hand into Sam's, squeezing tight and getting an answering squeeze in return.

"Well, it will be a shame to lose the both of you," the man sighed heavily, "but I had a feeling this was coming. Well," he amended thoughtfully, "my wife had the feeling. I just listened to her this time." He looked up at both young women intently. "You have both been invaluable crew members. I feel honored to have had you on board, and I expect to hear from you in the future as to how well you are doing out in the 'Verse."

Val blinked back happy tears. "Thank you, Captain," she said softly.

Markum waved her away, seemingly embarrassed at the display of emotion. "I'm sure you have Waves to make. Val, I can take the rest of your shift. Both of you run along now."

Grinning, the two women started to head off of the bridge, though Sam paused to plant a kiss on Markum's weathered cheek. "Thanks, Capt'n," she whispered. Then, still holding hands, they ran off towards the crew area.

Captain Markum smiled softly to himself now that he was alone. This is why we have no children, he thought to himself somberly. Every crew I bring on board becomes part of my family. And it's difficult letting go. But worth the time together. I wish you all the best, girls.