<div align="center"><strong>-= Griffin Kingston – The Gamble’s Cargo hold – Moving towards the infirmary to check on his pilots =-</strong></div><br/>The loading ramp finally sealed closed with a loud groan followed by the tell-tale hiss of the seals locking into place. Turning to face the far end of the cargo hold and the infirmary, Griff cast a sidelong glance to Anwar before he set out to check on the well-being and flight status of his two pilots. “You already know where the engines are and you know where your bunk is so… I think you’re square. Might wanna see to the engines as we’ll be dusting off here real soon and I don’t like surprises, ‘specially when it comes to my boat.” Moving from the loading ramp, he glanced back over his shoulder to Anwar and added, “you have any questions, just ask somebody. Anybody. ‘cept for Dani and Steve… the burly fella you saw at the pub. He’s as green as you are on my boat.”<br/><br/>Turning his focus on the infirmary doors, his steps seemed to echo in the cavernous hold as his booted feet fell heavily on the cold metal floor. As he drew closer to the infirmary, he could feel the tension building with every step. There was Dani, the normally quiet and soft spoken woman who had ruffled Griff’s feathers with her stern talking down too. Normally Griff wouldn’t put up with that sort of disrespect, but at the time he couldn’t bring himself to berate the kindhearted doctor, despite his injured pride. Now that he had time to cool off a bit and think of things from her perspective, he wasn’t nearly as riled as when the incident had first occurred.<br/><br/>Then there was Mae; Was she okay? Was she awake yet? Would there be any lasting affects from the blow to her head? When would she be able to fly again? WOULD she be able to fly again? These were some of the questions and concerns that raced through his mind when he considered the talented young pilot. Yes, she was his pilot, and a damned good one too; one of the best he’d ever seen in the entire ‘verse, including most of the combat jockey’s he’d known during the Unification War. But she was more than just a pilot to Griff.<br/><br/>The truth is if someone were to ask Griff his relationship to Mae, he’d have a gorram hard time answering that. At times she was like his daughter, other times, like the kid sister that he’d never had, and even other times she was like… something else that he even he couldn’t figure out. Griff knew that nothing would ever happen between them again as it had that first night they had met, and he certainly wasn’t looking for a relationship with her, as she was nearly half his age. Griff cared about all of his crew… well, most of them anyway, and he was protective of them all, but he found that he was more protective of Dani and Mae. Dani’s traumatic past had left her broken and she was still very fragile. Mae had her youthful zeal and reckless abandon that could be her greatest gift or her darkest curse. Together, they were the most vulnerable and defenseless of his crew and he was responsible for their safety.<br/><br/>Wrapping his thick fingers around the lever of the infirmary’s hatch door, Griff pushed it open and stepped inside with a quick glance about the antiseptic décor. His eyes widened a bit, accompanied by a hint of a grin when he saw Mae sitting up, though she looked none too happy to be where she was. “Ah, I see that my pilot is awake,” he said. “How is she doing, Dani?” he asked with a quick glance in the doctor’s direction as he lingered in the doorway, suddenly aware of Si’s presences as well. The hint of grin quickly faded as he acknowledged the former rear admiral with glance. He was not happy with Si after the man’s insinuation that Griff was sly. His first instinct had been to punch Si in the face for even suggesting such a thing, but he had reigned in his temper in Sasha’s presence with the knowledge that she was already going to be pissed over the nixed 24-hour shore leave. Part of him wished he had just followed his gut and decked the man, but Griff filed that away to deal with later, or perhaps he would let bygones be bygones. Scanning the room once more, he noticed that Vince was missing. Looking back to Dani, a line creased his brow and his tone darkened just a bit as he asked, “Where’s Mr. Kincaid?”<br/>