Parts: 1. Jamie: 0. [Open]

[bonnypiperlad]

By all rights, Jamie should be asleep. Ever since his trip to the City earlier, he's been running hot and cold, like he's got a fever. But rather than wanting to rest, he feels strangely jittery - so he's in Engineering, looking down at a box of parts that need to be sorted. However, now that he's actually here, he's not sure he wants to go through with it. If he doesn't, though, he'll just have to do it later. With a sigh, he rather carelessly dumps everything out onto a work table. He starts rummaging through the pile, although there's not much actual sorting going on. It seems more like he's simply picking something up, frowning at it for a moment and then setting it aside.

In the mess of bits and pieces, there's one part made up of two smaller ones that have been shoved together. It's the same thing he had been playing with while waiting for Billy during their failed goop gun experiment, and there's an almost wistful look on his face for a moment as he picks it up. He'll never be able to think of that without thinking of Cassie, now. Still, the parts would be of more use if they were separate, so he sets to trying to pull them back apart.

It seems he's done a fantastic job of wedging them together permanently, for try as he might he cannot get them to budge. As he tries, the expression on his face gets more and more irritated, until finally he gets frustrated enough that he throws it at the table. It bounces and goes sailing through the air towards the open doorway. Normally he'd go chasing after it, but why bother? It's not like it's going to hit anyone coming in this late, anyway. Is it?

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[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie's having a lucid moment, although his eyes are still quite bright from the fever. He sees the smile fade, and he starts to reach for her, to hold her and tell her it's all right that way - but given how he's been acting, he realizes it might come across badly. Instead, he drops his hands to his sides, and puts the emotion into his voice.

"Kaylee. It's not that I don't want ye to go with me." In fact, part of him wants that very much. His reasons actually have nothing to do with him being all manly, in this case. "You're right, though. I'm not fine. I've not been fine all night, and..."

He trails off, looking somewhat anxious. After a few seconds, he continues, his voice very soft. "If I hurt ye because of it, I'd never be able to forgive myself."

[voiceofserenity.livejournal.com]

Even though she hadn't expected to receive an explanation from him, she's somewhat relieved to have one. She simply nods in understanding, and would have left it there if he hadn't continued.

As he finishes, her hand goes up. The smile is back, mostly, and it's full of all the support and reassurance she can muster up for him right now.

"You don't gotta explain, Jamie. It's alright, or will be once you're feelin' better, and even then I won't expect an explanation. You just go get patched up, and don't worry about a thing."

[bonnypiperlad]

"Aye," Jamie says, still in that gentle tone. He looks at Kaylee for a long moment but can feel that faint irritation coming back, like tiny pinpricks under his skin. He'd best get out of here before he does get angry again. He meant what he said - if he hurt Kaylee, even if he didn't mean to, he'd never forgive himself for it.

He walks out of Engineering, pausing in the doorway for a moment as a wave of dizziness comes over him. Doing his best to ignore it, he heads off down the hallway, not daring to look back at Kaylee for fear he'll change his mind.