She smiled up at him, her expression affectionate. "It really is lovely to see you," she said quietly. "I missed you."
"No, but-" She was cut off abruptly as another scientist came up to her with a clipboard, and Poppy scanned it quickly before signing it. "I'm just glad to see you, that's all," she continued after the scientist left. She gave him a cocky grin. "Weird, right? You'd think I liked you or something."
"Psshh. I totally don't think that at all," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "So, it seems pretty stressful here. You're handling it well."
Poppy frowned. "Phos is the head of a lot of departments in here," she said. "Generally, I'm his second in command, and it all works out great. But because he's the cause of the explosion, many of the duties transferred to me." She sighed and rested her head in her hands."If I go crazy and start screaming gibberish, do me a favor and just tell people that I'm having some sort of stroke. Maybe they'll solve their own problems then instead of bringing them to me."
"I will be sure to tell them, but only after I take you to the doctor. Just try to relax, and think about good things, like seeing your family," he said, his voice soft. He lightly kissed her on the cheek. "Don't go crazy, okay?"
She looked up from her hands and smiled up at him almost shyly. "Hm," she said lightly. "No guarantees, but I'll do my best."
"That's good. I would still love you if you did go crazy, but I don't think it would be the same," he said, observing her features thoughtfully.
She grinned up at him, her nose crinkling slightly. "Aw Francis," she said cheekily. "You sure know how to make a girl's heart go pitter-patter." She gave him a quick peck. "Thank you for still loving me despite my inevitable insanity."
"You're welcome. I have been told I'm very acceptable of crazy, but it's not normally my girlfriend." He chuckled, crossing his arms.
She paused for a moment and cocked her head, looking up at him. "Did you just call me your girlfriend?"
She bit her lip as she pretended to consider it, teasing him. Finally, she grinned up at him. "Hm. Okay. I suppose I'll allow it."
He raised an eyebrow, brushing back a lock of her hair. "You'll allow it? At this point you'd think it's a given."
"Oh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She smirked slightly, the corners of her eyes crinkling with the action. "You're seem to be quite confident in this."
"Hm," she said, drawing out the sound. Her lips curved up slightly in a teasing smile as she pretended to think. Finally, she gave it up and grinned at him. "No, you have every reason to be confident about it," she said quietly. "I'm just being a jerk."
"You're not being a jerk. Just playful," he reassured, putting his hands on his hips. "That, and you're messing with me."
"I can't deny that you're good at that, considering how often you do it," he said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. "I don't mind it, though."
