She listened intently, pulling from his grasp to clasp her hands together. "That's very exciting."

"It is!" He settled down onto the hill, patting the patch of grass beside him. "Back on Earth, it always appeared in the middle of February, so people began to call it the Valentine's Comet, or the Lovers' Comet." He looked over, locking eyes with Allu. They had settled next to him, very closely, he realized. His face grew warm.

They'd been spending a lot of time together lately. They first came to the colony on official USA business, and they slowly got to know each other outside of the painful desperation of that wormhole. They had more in common than he realized. When he was looking to the stars, they were looking to Earth. The way they talked about humans enamored him, like they opened his eyes to a whole new way of seeing the world.

He had to admit it, he was falling for the alien who shot him in the chest.

"But, uh," he continued, chuckling nervously. "No one really calls it that anymore. I believe it's technical name is something like Satelite-214." He looked up to the sky, anywhere but those lovely eyes.

Quiet minutes passed, until a streak of light flashed across the sky, blazing through the sea of stars. It left a trail of glittering pink particles in is wake.

"Wow," was all he could say. He sat back in awe, glancing over to Allu. They wore the same look of awe.

"Thank you for sharing this with me," they said after a moment, pulling their legs close to their chest. "I mean it. I really love spending time with you."

"Allu, I- I really like spending time with you, too. A lot," he started before realizing. Everything seemed to spill out as inarticulate nonsense. "And I'd like to spend more time- that is, if you'd like to- we could be- damn it. Why is this so hard to say?" He ran a hand through his hair, nervously laughing at his own awkwardness.

She placed a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, thinking. "Then don't say anything. Show me."

Wordlessly, Allu slowly pealed off one of her gloves. Something about it felt momentous, though he didn't understand why. They both held their breath.

They held out their hand, covered in the same red spots that adorned their face. They reached out, pressing their fingertips to his. Slowly, their spots began to glow, soft light traveling up their arm and across their face.

He too felt a sensation traveling up his arm, like his very nerves were being electrified. He felt light-headed, but only for a moment. Then everything was clear.

It was pure emotion. His heart pounded in time with a cacophony of hesitation and joy, fear and love. He basked in the feeling as he basked in their glow.

It was a confusing mess that made perfect sense. They were connected by more than touch, words left unspoken coming together in perfect harmony. He felt what she did, and she felt the same.

                                          ---

"Where is that damn-," Gunther muttered, rummaging through a cabinet in the ship's galley. It was cluttered with junk food, and no one stayed on the ship long enough these days to organize it. Eventually, after shoving aside a box of granola bars, he found what he was looking for. Instant hot chocolate. He pulled out a packet, tearing it open and dumping the contents into one of the steaming mugs of coffee on the counter. He stirred it quickly, then grabbed both mugs and headed down the hall.

He stopped outside the door, taking a deep breath and bracing himself for the blast of cold. The cryo system was slowly cycling down, but that didn't mean it was any warmer on the observation deck. The door whirred open.

"I thought getting promoted to team leads meant we didn't have to work the graveyard shift anymore," he said, walking up to the woman standing at the console across the room.

Celci scoffed, clearly annoyed but resigned to the night shift. "If you have a problem with the assignment, you can take it up with the captain." She took the mug from his hands and took a sip. She paused a moment, looking into the mug with a slight smile. "Thanks."

He nodded, taking a sip of his own coffee. He drummed his fingers on the side of his mug. "So, have any plans this weekend?" God, that was corny. He was never good at small talk, but he hated silence.

"I'm on call at the hospital all weekend." She typed a command into the console, scowling at the screen.

"No rest for the wicked, huh?"

"Nice quote," she joked. "Burt would be proud."

"I'll tell him you said that." The room went quiet again, but for the whirring of machinery and occasional beep. This time, though, a loud blare from his wrist saved him from another cliché conversation starter.

Celci jumped. "What's that?"

"ADS proximity alarm. Nothing to worry about, just that comet Mark won't shut up about." He shrugged, tapping a button on his wrist. Just then, an idea popped into his head. He looked up at Celci. "Wanna take a quick break?"

Before long they were standing side by side at the bridge window. It was always the best view on the ship, overlooking the planet below.

A faint glow lined the planet, growing brighter and brighter until a streak of light appeared. As quick a laser bolt, it flashed across the sky.

Gunther let out a low whistle. He glanced over at Celci, her tired eyes wide in awe. She looked up at him, before laying her head on his shoulder. Without thinking, he leaned over, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

She closed her eyes, smiling. After a few quiet moments, she sighed. "Ok, back to work."

He chuckled. "Back to work."

                                          ---

"I still can't believe you opened that door," Bandit smirked.

"In my defense, it was a very convincing door," the captain said before completely breaking down into a fit of laughter.

They had been sitting in their office, buried under a pile of admin work, when Bandit appeared in a flash of blue light. She always seemed to drop in when they most needed it.

She asked if they wanted to get out of there.

They took her hand without hesitation.

In mere moments, they were standing outside the diner at the edge of the galaxy. They hadn't been back to this place since the paradox, and they hadn't been able to enjoy it then either. The pair slid into booth, and the captain let Bandit order some alien food for them both.

"Yeah, not my best decision." They stifled their laugh, mindlessly picking at the food on their plate. It was a pile of something almost like fries, covered in something that could loosely be associated with cheese. "I was in a weird place."

"You and me both." Bandit sat back against the vinyl seat, stealing a not-cheesy not-fry from their plate.

They frowned at the table. "I'm sorry for dragging you into everything." They couldn't think of more to say, simply letting their words sit as they slowly chewed on their food.

She shrugged and waved a hand. "It wasn't your fault. I pursued you, remember?" She leaned forward. "Seems like I'm always doing that," she said with a wink, quickly snagging another not-fry.

They nearly choked. She was always so direct, something they didn't get back home, where everyone seemed intimidated by their title. It was nice. And flustering. They swallowed the lump in their throat - food or nerves, they couldn't tell.

"Well," they leaned forward on the table to meet her gaze. "You've got me now."

Her hand inched across the table, lacing her fingers with theirs. "It seems I do."

The moment was quickly cut short by a small, metal tray slamming onto the table. Both jumped, Bandit's cybernetics sending static shocks through the captain's hand. A waiter was standing at the table, looking down with a strained smile. "So, who's going to pay for this?"

"I've got it," Bandit sighed. She pulled a couple small, golden bars from the pouch on her hip and placed them on the table. She nodded to the side. "Come on."

They left the diner hand in hand. They walked out to the parking lot, a patch of dusty rock filled with starships. The diner was situated on a tiny asteroid somewhere in open space. It looked out onto a vast sea of stars, the neon lights of the diner did nothing to dampen their beauty.

As the captain watched in awe, a streak of light flashed across the sky. "Look!" they whispered, pointing up. "Did you see that?"

The whirring of her mechanical eye piece answered the question for them.

Their eyes glittered with the light of a thousand stars. "Sometimes I still can't believe I'm here. There was a while back there where- well, where I wasn't sure I'd ever make it."

"Me too," Bandit said, wistful. She squeezed their hand. "I'm glad you're here. Wouldn't be the same without you."