003 ✪ text

[redactions]

Who: Jim Barnes
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: nope.
When: Feb 2.

Two questions:

1. Has anyone managed to fix the "modifications" made to our ships a few months ago?

2. Has anyone else found their personal items being sold on this station?

Comments

[enshields]

[Ah. Something, unconfirmed until this point, clicks into place in the back of his mind, and Steve rubs engine grease from between his fingers with a rag.]

You really miss her, huh?

[redactions]

[ He never talks about Nat. It seems pointless — that and he's not about to give up her secrets. Jim's mouth twitches, feeling a trap but not knowing why. ]

You could say that.

[enshields]

[God, he misses the days Jim would come home with lipstick on his collar and a swagger in his step. He never kissed and told - not once - but Steve always knew. Mourning for that part of him is a curiously detached feeling, and he looks down.]

Not sure if I should say I'm glad you had her, or I'm glad she had you. Little of both, maybe.

[It's his way of not pressing the issue. He'll leave well enough alone. Jim's earned and well deserves his privacy.]

[redactions]

[ He swallows. For a while nothing gets said, and nothing needs to be. ]

C'mon, let's finish as much of this as we can.

[enshields]

[Steve bumps his shoulder gently, just enough to drive home the fact that he's there. And then he bends his head to their work without a word.]