A/N: Thank you Coolbreez for all your kind words.

Collisions

Chapter 2

There was a long stretch of sudden quiet, spattered with the creaks of settling ship, the falling of dust and chips of paint, and the groans of cooling metal. Zoë pushed herself up from where she’d come to rest on top of the console, and looked around. Her dark curls, once neatly contained and out of the way were now in disarray falling into her face. She pushed them aside irritably, her muscles protesting adamantly at the movement, and found herself face to face with a plastic Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was one of Wash’s ridiculous toy dinosaurs. She shoved it away, hearing a loud clank as it hit the metal floor below her.

“Is everybody ok?” She heard Wash’s voice, and looked over to see him speaking into the com receiver, the h eel of his hand pressed against his forehead. She moved to stand and had to brace herself for a moment before she got her balance. The ship was tilted and the floor uneven, but she managed to get to Wash’s side without falling into him. She took hold of his chin and turned him roughly toward her, pulling his hand away from the wound on his forehead. “It’s nothing,” he said looking up at her.

“Nope,” she agreed, looking at the small cut oozing blood over his left eyebrow “Just a little scratch.”

He frowned slightly as he looked her over, she couldn’t say why she didn’t move away.

“You cut your cheek,” he said gently, reaching up as if to touch the place, but his fingers just hovered there. Her eyes locked with his, letting his gaze, as blue and open as the newly lit sky just beyond the front visor, look almost into her for the longest moment. She was still touching his face, feeling the soft rasping of a half days growth of stubble, and the heat of his skin under her fingers.

“Wash, Zoë you guys ok?” Zoë jerked back from him and he turned just as quickly to grab up the receiver. “Zhou ma, someone answer me!”

“We were just asking that about you, Captain,” Wash said smiling at the sound of Ma