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The Hunter and his bounty (Findarato and Candira)

Kelly did as she was asked and sat across from him, smiling softly. "I like waffles much better too," she said with a nod. "It's a texture thing. Besides, they hold syrup so much better." That said, the pretty bounty head happily started to eat the waffle she'd been given. The sweet starchy goodness really hit the spot. She was well aware of their proximity, and didn't mind.

Her leg brushed against his as she fidgeted a little in her chair trying to wake up more fully. "Thank you," she said with a soft smile. She didn't have to say it, but he was being so uncharacteristically nice so that she felt she needed to. Still, she wasn't sure how long it would last so maybe it was a premature move.
 
"I love waffles," he replied instantly. "I eat them every day," he explained. He wasn't sure why he loved waffles so much but her explanation served better than his, however that did not stop him from giving her his own theory: "They just taste so good."

Alister seemed too involved with eating his waffle to notice the subtle touching between them as their knees and legs brushed along each other. He was acutely aware of it, and found himself enjoying their human contact more than the meal, but he would be caught dead before he allowed Kelly to see that he expressed more interest in this than eating his waffle. At her gratefulness, he glanced up, part of a waffle hanging from his mouth and syrup dribbling down his chin ridiculously. "For what?" He asked, perplexed by what she was thanking him for. Realizing how he looked, he quickly swiped his arm across his face to rid it of its contents.
 
It was really too much. That face of his had so many expressions, but this one, she had to admit, was her favorite. She couldn't hold back a chuckle as he looked up at her, a chunk of waffle hanging from his lips, syrup dripping down. Kelly was used to seeing his handsome face look fierce, or mad, or slightly embarrassed, but it was another thing altogether to see him looking at her like she'd just spoken a foreign language and then said his name. He was, in that moment, adorable.

"Sorry, but your face..." she collected herself and cleared her throat before starting again. "I just wanted to say thank you for the...waffles." That said, she went back to eating her waffle, still smiling as she remembered the look on his face. She wondered if he was tricking her with this "change of heart" business, or if he was just putting up with her because he had to, but she didn't let herself dwell in that possibility.

This was far too nice of a morning to cloud it up with cynicism. Besides, she had a waffle.
 
Alister's annoyance returned, he couldn't tell if she were making fun of him or thought he looked odd. When his arm went away, his brow furrowed again in anger, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been before. "Nothing wrong with my face," he says defiantly.

"You don't need to thank me. I gotta feed you, you're wanted alive," he said casually, as if life or death did not matter much and even those dying deserved decent food. "You can thank me if I let you sleep in my bed again tonight, you hogged too much room." He said with a slight laugh.
 
She shook her head. "No, there's nothing wrong with your face," she said, still smiling. Polishing off the waffle, she looked up at him and felt a little bad for making the annoyed look on his face return. Still, he seemed to get over it pretty quickly. "If you let me, huh? Who's to say I won't just pop up anyway? I'm sorry if I was too close, but you're a total blanket hog."

That said, she smiled and stood up, carrying her plate to the counter by the sink.
 
"I'm still the captain," he said with authority, but it was obvious he was just joking. "You may sleep on the floor if you'd like," he suggested as he got up, finishing his waffle and oddly not in the mood for another one, leaving the dishes there for now.

He left, walking back to the cockpit without saying another word until he heard her following him in the small corridors of the ship. "It'll probably be a few days before we get the Alliance's rim. You can try to kill me before then if you value your life," he said jokingly, still not entirely convinced she was totally harmless.

He wondered what what would happen in those few days, normally they consisted of his captive screaming to be let out while he flew the ship, occasionally serving his prisoner a sedative to silence him. Kelly hadn't been much of a nuisance except that she seemed to think she was in a hotel.
 
She chuckled at the suggestion of sleeping on the floor. "A gentleman would sleep on the floor and offer the bed to a lady. Especially one he's probably going to kill." She smiled and then walked down the corridor with him. "But I suppose chivalry is dead." Kelly stopped him for a moment and looked up into his eyes. "I mean it when I say I don't want you dead, Alister. You're a good man. A little naive, but a good man." She smiled and then let him go.

"So what now, captain? Tell you what, if you let me sleep in bed with you, I'll take care of some of your chores...if you have anything for me to do. And I think a good plate of my french toast might be worth a night in a nice bed...even with a blanket hog."
 
"I guess I'm not a gentleman," he responded, finding his wrist yanked at before he was turned completely, facing Kelly. He stared at her, letting his blue eyes become mesmerized by her own eyes for a moment too long. He didn't like it, and he laughed it off with a chuckle, trying to appear as if he were unaffected by looking at her eyes. "Whatever you say, boss."

"Maybe," he said, knowing he probably won't be able to push her out of his bed even if he wanted to, she was just too stubborn. For now he focused on his controls, making sure everything was running properly before he stared out into the blankness of space. "If your french toast doesn't taste bad, I'll let you sleep in my bed."
 
Kelly smirked at his offer of a deal. It wouldn't be hard to make up a decent batch of french toast if he had all the ingredients. She sat down next to him in the control room and monitored a few things, but mostly watching Alister. "Well then, we have a deal." She closed her eyes and leaned back in the comfy copilot chair. It was a relief to know that beneath all of his "I'm a bounty hunter" machismo, he was a normal person who had hit a good stream work for the Alliance, and had wanted to keep his lifestyle livable. She couldn't fault him for that.

Since he didn't know who or what she was, she couldn't really stay particularly mad at him because it wasn't personal...to him. But that was the problem, wasn't it? It was nothing personal for anyone but her. Kelly opened her eyes and looked out at the stars. It would be days before they reached their destination...which led her to wonder.

"What do you usually do on the ride to Central?"
 
Alister seemed content in simply staring straight forward, admiring the stars and the blackness of the space which he enjoyed so much. Her question was answered by what he was doing right now, but he shrugged. "Not much usually. Normally the prisoners are in the cell banging to be let out, not sitting with me and eating break fast. So I have to give them sedatives to make them sleep and shut up. When that's done I just like to sit here and look at space, I enjoy it. I used to be a pilot for a trading ship so I spent a lot of time flying, but I never got bored of it." Alister sighed softly to himself, thinking of what he used to do before he was a bounty hunter.
 
"Why'd you stop being a trader pilot to be a bounty hunter?" she asked. "I mean, it hardly seems like a logical jump...then again, what do I know? But it seems odd you'd choose a more dangerous life style." She shrugged and watched the stars go by wondering what it would be like to never have anyone bother her for anything. What kind of life would that be?
 
"Wanted to work alone," he said, giving it a few seconds of thought. That's what he always told himself, but sometimes he wasn't so sure, it did get lonely on the ship all by himself and keeping usually crazy people locked up in his cell. Kelly was one of the more sane ones, but even she struck him as slightly crazy in her own way, doing things completely unorthodox.
 
She looked over at him, a puzzled expression on her face. "Isn't space lonely enough?" she asked, watching her face. She hadn't meant for it to sound so profound, but she often found herself wondering the same thing. It seemed that she could never get away fast enough, but once she'd run away, she'd be lonely again. She'd form connections wherever she settled down next, but never deep enough connections to keep her from leaving. Sighing, she turned back to the stars and wondered why he liked watching them so much.
 
He didn't answer, staying quiet and adjusting his chair so he could lean back to relax. Finally, he spoke, "It wasn't all that lonely being on a ship with other people. By yourself it's different, gotta learn how to take of the ship by yourself and cook for yourself and all sorts of other things, flying it, keeping the prisoner maintained. Sometimes I think I need a partner, would be way easier to do things.." For a split second he imagined Kelly as his partner, quickly pushing away the thought as he knew it was very possible she wouldn't be alive in the next week.
 
Alister was an unusual man in Kelly's eyes. Something about him just didn't seem sincere as he said he wasn't lonely all that much. Sure, he was busy, but that didn't make it any less lonely. As he mentioned a partner she wondered if he had thought of her as one like she had for a moment. Then again, she wasn't much for the life of a bounty hunter. Something about turning people in the way Alister did didn't sit well with her.

Then again, someone had to do it; the criminals of the world were not all kittens like her after all. Shrugging it off, she stared into the space before them. "Hmmm, seems like an idea. It's not like we can't all use help now and then."
 
"They wouldn't have to do much," he said quickly, wanting to tell himself it was a good idea more rather than convincing her, she was not much to him asides from a polite bounty with rather good looks that he was trying very hard to ignore at the moment. "Just maintain the ship for me while I'm gone, things like that. Maybe I should get a partner after all. Would make things a lot easier, that's for sure. Except I'd have to share my prize money with them..." he finished his sentence doubtfully, thinking about it in silence.
 
"Well then, you'll just have to be the biggest and baddest, won't you? and you could argue that you should get the bigger cut since you're doing the hardest part," she said with a chuckle. "If that's all you're worried about, you'd have it pretty good," she said. She was reminded of her technological/engineering skills and wondered just how much he was thinking of someone like her being his copilot. Smiling to herself, she looked down at the controls again.
 
"I'm already the biggest and baddest," he said with a huff. "The Alliance loves it when I take their missions, I always get the job done." Once again Alister's tough side was beginning to show, but at least this time it wasn't directed at Kelly. "All I need to do is post a sign that I want a partner, and people will be running over each other just to be in my ship," he said decisively, folding his arms over his chest triumphantly as if he already had posted such a sign.

"What do you think?" he asked, turning to look at her, doubt filling his eyes briefly. "Would you want to be my partner if you weren't my prisoner?" He asked her seriously , wanting some reassurance.
 
Kelly's eyes widened, thrown a bit off balance by the question at hand. She looked into Alister's eyes, suddenly noticing the color a bit too vividly. After a pause she regained her composure and smiled. "Well, when you ask a girl like that," she said with a chuckle. His posturing was kind of cute and he was of a passionate sort. Could she work with him? Under different circumstances, perhaps she could. "Well, I'm a little too nice to administer sedatives and the like, but I think I could." She smirked and looked out at the stars again. "Yeah, I suppose I would."
 
"Oh." Alister sunk in his chair with relief. She was fairly reasonable, how much harder would it be to find someone to be his partner if she would do it?

"I guess it won't be too hard to find someone, then," he said, relaxing. He stared straight forward once more, seemingly lost into his own thoughts. He wasn't thinking about much, only trying to imagine Kelly as his partner. He turned to her, studying her for a moment before he asked, "Do you think my partner is going to have hair like yours?" It was an odd question, it was hard for one to tell if he was serious or not. It seemed he was attempting to flirt with her, but he had asked in the same tone as when he asked her if she would be his partner or not if she wasn't in such a situation. He was fascinated by the color of her hair, the red brown hue to it made him want to reach out and touch it.
 
Kelly turned to him and raised her eyebrow. "Umm? Sure?" Her hair color was fairly rare, actually, but she wondered if he was just messing with her, so she didn't really know how to respond. She chuckled a little and tilted her head to the side. "Why? Thinking of recruiting some sexy co-pilot to help you with your missions?" She teased. Still it was hard to deny there was a moment between them for a moment there.
 
"Possibly," he said quietly, imaging seeing Kelly as his pilot every time he came back into his ship. He nearly laughed to himself, imaging all the waffles they would consume on the ship. The thought was quickly silenced by the urge to reach out and touch her hair, which he did very slowly, like a small boy who had never touched a woman before. His hand moved through her locks very gently at first before gradually applying pressure that she felt on her scalp.
 
Kelly watched him, surprised at the sudden gesture, blushing a little as he actually ran his hands through her hair. The look of wonder on his face was so different. The tenderness in his touch was almost too much. She straightened up a little bit, her body stiffening just a bit. Quickly, she collected herself. "Ummm...Can I help you?" she asked.
 
He held his breath as she gave him the impression she wasn't comfortable with him touching her hair. "Oh." He said, trying to pull away and only doing so a moment after she had spoke. "Uh." He adjusted him on his seat, looking straight forward. "I just wanted to see what it felt like," he said truthfully after thinking of several excuses in a matter of milliseconds, deciding honesty was the best policy hero. "Sorry," he said, his cheeks rising red in hot shame as he wondered why he had just done that.

"Don't be an idiot!" He yelled at himself in his head, quickly looking up at the ceiling of the ship and finding a particularly button fairly interesting to look at to avoid eye contact with her.
 
She smiled, finding the gesture to be sweet, and his honesty was refreshing. Kelly chuckled and shook her head. "It's okay. I just didn't know what you were doing, that's all." She knew that even if he offered, her probably wouldn't touch her again like that, and it made her a little sad. But she figured that it wouldn't hurt to give him a little pay back.

After a moment of watching him and his intent focus on the ceiling, she got up from her chair and moved immediately next to him, looking straight up. "Whatcha looking at?" she asked before turning to look at him again. She was inches from his face now. Memories of the kiss she'd given to him at the club returned and she wondered how it might feel to do it again when he wasn't flustered or pissed off. Her delicate fingers ran through his hair and she smiled softly, glad to return the favor.
 
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