[ My ship. If he says that around the captain... Well, she's actually not sure how Chris might react to it. He might find the way James cares for the ship endearing. Hell, it might even be something for them to bond over, given how many of the bridge crew she'd recognized in the other timeline. If Chris sees how much James cares, that could shape the entire conversation for the better.

She smiles in amusement, though it shifts into something more pained when he asks that heartbreaking question. Keeping her hand where it still rests on his chest over his miraculously beating heart, she lowers herself back into the chair at his bedside. ]

He's our xenoanthropologist. He has a lab full of artifacts from all sorts of species, and he'll talk your ear off about every one of them if you let him. [ Needing to be touching him every way she can, she moves her other hand to his arm, rubbing her thumb over his skin just to reassure herself he's still there. ] Once we figure out how to handle this, you can see him. I've made sure no one outside the medical staff and the captain are aware of your presence here, so he won't rush in here panicked about his pain in the ass little brother. [ Her amusement returns. ] His words, not mine.