Parvati started paying a little closer attention to the captain after that. Not in a creepy or obvious way, of course, and absolutely not because she was sweet on her. Just to see if maybe Felix hadn't been lying as hard as she'd first thought. That was all. That was totally it. She did not have any personal stake in the matter, no sir.

In any case, she got some interesting results. One occasion stood out to her in particular.

It went like this: they were walking through Fallbrook; she and Nyoka and the captain, and Parvati was feeling awfully unsettled. The whole place felt wrong. Like it was out to get her in particular. The cavern ceiling hung dark and oppressive over their heads like a physical weight, and every dark corner seemed fraught with the promise of danger. If that wasn't bad enough, people kept staring at her, too. Sweat trickled between her shoulder blades at the heat of unfamiliar eyes boring into her back. She fiddled with the adjustable wrench on her belt just to have something else to focus on, but it wasn't enough. She still felt small and out of place and—and vulnerable.

A glance to either side showed that the captain and Nyoka were having no such trouble. The two of them swaggered down the middle of the street like they owned the place. The sway in Nyoka's step might have been from the whisky she'd been sipping on during the trip, but still. Confident and comfortable were two words that would never apply to Parvati, but her crewmates seemed to live and breathe. She wasn't jealous, really, but sometimes she wished she was cut from the same cloth they were. It seemed much easier.

But instead here she was, stuck with nerves that frayed too easily and pores like faucets. They were acting up something fierce as they walked down the unfriendly street. It wasn't long before the crawling of her skin became too much to bear and she had to say something or risk going crazy. The words burst out of her like water from a leaky pipe: "I don't like the way people here are lookin' at me. Like I'm a sandwich." She realized she'd spoken too loud, too abrupt, and quickly shrank into herself. Quieter, she tried, "Maybe I could stand a little closer to you, Captain?"

It wasn't a flirt. It wasn't an excuse to get close to the other woman. It really wasn't, Parvati would swear it on her father's lucky wrench, but if it happened to turn out that way, she wouldn't complain.

The captain didn't seem to mind. Without missing a beat, she clipped her stride to let the engineer match pace with her, and Parvati did so gladly. Entering her orbit was like a breath of relief. The captain was mighty intimidating with her tall, lean frame, the pistol on her hip, and the flinty look in her hazel eyes.

That look softened when she glanced at Parvati and noticed her frazzled, flustered state. "Don't worry, Parvati," she said, walking close enough to bump their shoulders together, "I won't let anyone lay a finger on you."

Parvati was halfway through flashing her a grateful smile when Felix's words came back to her like a round to the chest: have you seen the way she looks at you?

The thought made her pause. Not for the first time, she wondered: did the captain really look at her differently? Noticeably? In a way that maybe meant something?

Now seemed as good a chance as any to see. So Parvati paused, and turned, and really looked at the expression on the captain's face for the first time this conversation.

Normally, the captain was all rough edges, dangerous scowls, and sardonic smirks. She had to put on a convincing mask if she wanted to survive this cutthroat galaxy, and she was pretty darn good at it. She'd threatened her way out of more than a handful of situations before, and that was only counting the times Parvati had seen. The truth was, Captain Danika was a scary lady.

Only, right now, you'd never guess it in a million years.

She was smiling gently in that way she did to hide her crooked teeth. Her lips curled a little more on the left than the right, cutting a rare laugh line into her cheek. Her brow was smooth from its usual frown and her eyes were half-lidded, soft, as they lingered on the engineer. Not a hint of her usual steel was found anywhere in her expression. She just seemed—warm.

Parvati's breath caught just a little, and no, it wasn't because she was sweet on the captain. She was just surprised. Caught off guard. Was this what Felix was talking about? Was this what she'd been missing this whole time?

She'd never seen the captain look at her like that. She had never seen her look at anybody like that.

So, okay.

Grudgingly, Parvati admitted to herself that maybe Felix had a point.