"This is going to be complicated," he said.
"Everything worth doing is complicated."
"The project deadline is in three months."
"Then we should probably stop avoiding each other and get back to actual collaboration instead of dancing around our feelings."
"Logical." He paused, his markings flickering in a pattern I was learning to recognize as uncertainty. "Should we...inform anyone? Establish protocols for managing personal relationships within command structure?"
"Or," I suggested, "we could just keep working together and let people draw their own conclusions. We're not doing anything wrong, Zor'go. We're two adults who happen to work together and also happen to care about each other. That's allowed."
"Dana and Er'dox went through formal bonding protocols."
"Dana and Er'dox wanted formal bonding protocols. I'm not asking you to bond with me. I'm just asking you to stop pushing me away every time you feel something."
The relief that crossed his face was almost comical. "So we're not, this isn't a formal commitment requiring ceremonies and witnesses and?—"
"Not unless you want it to be." I studied his expression, saw the panic receding. "Did you think I was demanding some kind of immediate permanent bond?"
"I didn't know what you were demanding. I'm not good at reading interpersonal subtext."
"I'm demanding honesty. And that you stop treating your feelings for me like they're some kind of catastrophic design flaw. That's it. Everything else we figure out as we go."
His hands were still on my waist, a steady warm presence that grounded us both. "I can do that. I think. With potential for catastrophic failure, but I can attempt?—"
"Zor'go." I pressed my fingers to his lips, gentle. "Stop calculating disaster scenarios and just be here. With me. Right now."
He took a breath, nodded. His markings settled into a steady glow instead of their previous frantic flickering. When he spoke again, his voice had lost its analytical edge, becoming something softer and more genuine.
"I like being here with you. I like how you see possibilities where I see constraints. I like how you argue with meabout aesthetic considerations. I like—" He stopped, something vulnerable crossing his expression. "I like you, Jalina. More than is probably advisable given our working relationship and species differences and timeline constraints, but I like you anyway."
The admission made me smile so wide my cheeks hurt. "I like you too. Even when you're being impossible about thermal pockets and ventilation flows."
"The thermal pocket issue is legitimate."
"I'll look at it tomorrow."
"It requires immediate?—"
I kissed him again, standing on my toes and pulling him down to meet me halfway. This time there was less hesitation, more confidence, like his brain was finally accepting what his body had known for weeks. That this was right, that we were right, complications and all.
When we broke apart, my lips stretched in a massive grin and he looked pleasantly dazed and his markings were doing this rippling cascade thing that was frankly mesmerizing.
"Tomorrow," I repeated firmly. "Tonight, I'm going to go tell Bea and Elena that I just kissed my supervisor and that he's apparently terrible at emotions but excellent at making me forget to breathe. Tomorrow, we'll solve your thermal pocket problem and probably argue about courtyard dimensions again. And then we'll keep doing that, working and arguing and occasionally kissing, until we finish this project and figure out what comes next."
"That's not a very structured plan."
"Best plans never are." I stepped back reluctantly, already missing the warmth of his hands. "Besides, you're the one who taught me that the most interesting designs emerge during implementation, not during initial planning."
"I never said that."
"You implied it. When you approved my variable pod configurations even though they didn't match your original specifications."
"That was different. That was professional adaptation based on improved design inputs."
"And this is a personal adaptation based on improved emotional honesty." I headed for the door, paused to look back at him. "Same principle, different application."
He was studying me with an expression filled with wonder mixed with lingering uncertainty mixed hope. "Jalina?—"
