playinginsand | [AU: Kaylee in Eden]

It is her hand, as it happens, but Kaylee, shot down as she sees herself, isn't really worried about it.

"You miss things," she says. "You see something everyday and you miss things. Sometimes it takes someone new to point out what's been starin' you in the face all along."

She laughs. "Like this time Serenity's fugeshaft was almost completely worn through. If Wash hadn't found it, I'd have left us spinning into the black"

He grins at her - for the story and for the excuse not to call it his fault. "Well, if you hadn't found this, I'd've had about thirty people pissed off and screaming at me until I got it fixed again. So thank you."

"Maybe thirty people is worse'n the five yellin' at me we start driftin'," Kaylee allows. "But you ain't met my cap'n."

And having Mel Reynolds yell at you is worse than anything

Sokka just smirks and leans back to sit cross-legged on the floor. "That's all right. You haven't met Minerva. She's new but she bitches like a pro."

She didn't react to his words or to the hand. He's not sure if he should be disappointed by this or not.

He just knows that a part of him is.

She might not have reacted when it was there, but when his hand comes up, hers lifts, fingers grabbing slightly in mid-air.

Then she sits up, facing him.

"Well, I'm glad I saved you from that, then."

Well, then.

His hand pauses, in case her fingers want to grab at things other than air.

"...I really appreciate it," he replies, grinning a little as he twists to face her, too.

It's possible that he's even in her debt.

Kaylee wouldn't exactly say that. And she certainly wouldn't want to exchange things.

Maybe not that, anyway. But her fingers brush his, and that couldn't be an accident, right? And he's... is he looking at her funny?

She grins that bright smile again.

"What is it?"

Is he? He blinks with the question, smile dropping a little. Did he look at her strangely, say something strange, freak her out with the smile?

Or overthink every little thing terribly?

The hand that brushed her fingers lifts and he rubs the back of his neck, sheepish with his eyes on the machine. "Nothing. Sorry. Seriously, we don't get a lot of mechanics here, so I guess I kind of freak out when there's someone to talk to about any of this."

Kaylee laughs again.

"No need to freak out," she says. "She's beautiful. You should be proud of her."

"I am," Sokka replies, grinning when he glances to Kaylee and then puts his eyes back on the generator, and the pride is there, obvious in his gaze. It wasn't his first invention and certainly not his biggest; he'd been more proud of the light and alarm system in Apocalyptica, his proudest had been the zeppelin.

But the generator... that was the first thing he built alone.

A pause and his grin is sheepish, laughing quietly at himself. "Even if my nephew was the genius behind the machine that'll take everyone home."

"Then it clearly runs in the family," Kaylee says with a laugh.

"Where is he now, your nephew?"

Grinning when she laughs, Sokka makes a face anyway, sitting back on his but with a knee up to rest his arm on. "He and his sisters used the machine to go back to the world my nieces were born on. He's got the plans he needs to make another machine and he was born here, so they'll come back when they're ready."

Though it wasn't-- supposed to take quite this long.

"Oh well, ain't that just shiny," Kaylee says. "Dimension hopping 'stead of planet hopping. Bet they get to meet all sorts of people."

"They were pretty excited about it," Sokka agrees, nodding. Though, perhaps his grin is a little forced now, a hint of tightness at the edges.

Suddenly, he wishes he'd spent more time building and less time upkeeping. So he'd have more material for changing the subject.

Oh, emo, right

Kaylee ducks forward, her smile gentler, but no less genuine.

"Guess you really miss 'em, huh?"

Awkward with the question, Sokka's hand is at the back of his neck, his eyes on the machine as he shrugs.

"They're family."

"Yeah," Kaylee says, sitting back, and rubbing the her own shoulder. "Guess I can understand that. Least they've made it so I don't have to worry 'bout missing my family."

"Right."

Tilting his head to look at her again, Sokka smiles and the hand that comes up to settle on her shoulder and squeeze is automatic. "Speaking of which... I mean, you're welcome to stay as long as you like, but I can fire it up whenever you're ready."

Kaylee's hand is already there, and she takes his hand when it touches hers. "Well, I don't reckon I'm in any hurry. Ain't like we were in the middle of anythin'."

His eyes dart to their hands, but his smile doesn't falter and he doesn't attempt to pull away. "If you're sure. I'm not going anywhere.

"...er, the machine. Well, I guess neither of us are going anywhere really.

"...was there something else you wanted to see?"

Other than Sokka setting the record for biggest foot shoved in a mouth?

It's natural, now, to just sit there, glancing up at the generator and around the room.

"What else is there to see?"

She's still got his hand, too, which is confusing Sokka terribly. Not to the point of asking her to let go, though, of course.

"Well," he begins slowly, glancing around the room, though it's empty save for the generator, and his eyes pause on one of the dark lights above them. "...actually, I could show you the lights, or just the alarms. They're both kind of linked."

"Shiny," is all she says.

Nodding once, and only a little awkward this time, Sokka stands and helps her up. It's not too hard, considering her hand is still in his. "They're upstairs," he says, pointing to the stairwell that used to have a door in front of it, blocking off the store bit from the apartment above. Sokka just found it easier to go tearing down the stairs if he didn't have to worry about slamming into a door.

"This is where I live - up on the roof - so I try to keep all the big stuff here, where I can get to it easy."

It doesn't even occur to Kaylee to drop his hand, using it to help herself stand and grinning at the perceived chivalry in a man helping a girl to stand up.

"That's a mighty fine idea," she says. "My bunk on

Serenity

's the other end from the engine room, so I spend a lot of nights sleeping with the motor."

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