( Owl to River, unwarded )( Owl to Kaylee, charmed so the top half turns into daisies when she opens it )( Owl to Chance, with a cursory ward )( Owl to Stephen, heavily warded to catch on fire if opened by the wrong person )There. All sent, all done.
He sat back, and he waited.
And waited.
Responses from Stephen and even River, while nice, were expected.
Responses from Kaylee and Chance...
God, Kaylee, he hadn't heard from her in ages. He found himself unable to focus, puttering around his office, staring at the fire or out the window. He missed her, he genuinely did, and it seemed like it had been so very long... he scowled at his reflection in the glass of the window and pulled away. He'd owled her before to no avail... and now this. Silence. He sighed -- he'd tried! And River'd yell at him...
Better to think of other things. Like Chance. Like it or not, patient or not, she was a friend. First one he'd really made here. Sure, Mal was a good guy, and his various colleagues were, well, collegial. He'd even mentally come to a sort of a head with Stephen -- mostly when he burned the pictures he'd recieved.
But Chance, she was the one he missed. The way she could turn an off-hand comment into a whole conversation, her expression when she'd really driven something home, the way she was always thinking, always pushing, always questioning. It was admirable.
No, more than admirable. Impressive. Welcome. Familiar. He smiled as he sank down into the chair she had taken over, running his hands along the arms of it. Truth be told, he missed her more than Kaylee. Hell, he dreamed of her more than Kaylee, and...
... wait. What?
He sat bolt upright and puzzled through that. He missed her more than Kaylee. And it was
Chance he'd been dreaming about
so inappropriately, Chance who'd taken to the uniform and blown him away, and...
... oh.
Oh.