All of Vitali's reasons for not displeasing her were purely personal. He had no professional stake in any of this. Originally Mariya had feared that there might have been a scandal because of the fact that they were together. There certainly had been some scandals before with cosmonauts. However, they were all because the cosmonauts in question were married and were sleeping with women who were attracted to them as a result of their new celebrity status.<br/><br/>Unlike them, Vitali was a single man. As a bachelor, he didn't have to fear these concerns, and anyway him and Mariya weren't actually doing anything physical. Still, he wanted to consider this to be a serious relationship even if it wasn't one where anything had happened. Something inside of him was, perhaps, eventually planning a marriage between the two of them.<br/><br/>That sounded really nice to tell the truth. Considering the fact that he had realized just how incredibly lonely he was before, due to the orbital trip that he had taken around the Earth, there was clearly a side to Vitali who had wanted to be together with someone. For now, though, he was glad that she had agreed to take a walk with him. They'd sit together later, as she said, once they had already eaten.<br/><br/>Nothing turned up inside of him that disliked the fact that she was holding his hand. Once their fingers were interlaced, he tightened the grip a bit to tell her that he appreciated the motion without actually having said so verbally. Smiling a bit, he looked wistfully into her eyes and ultimately did have one thing to ask her.<br/><br/>For a moment, though, he wasn't sure how to phrase it. Over time the words had come to him, though.<br/><br/>"Will you miss me or worry about me the next time I'm on a mission?"<br/><br/>Despite him saying so, he had already told her before he would probably only ever have one other chance in space.