Only a heartbeat after her whistle had faded, Jax stepped around the corner, a rather intense looking expression on his face, causing Celinny to start with surprise. She found herself scowling for a moment, opening her mouth to chide The man on carelessness of showing up too early, when something in his countenance had her stopping. The look on his face wasn’t quite angry, but her instincts were screaming about danger. She froze.

He stared at her and she stared back, heart pounding against her rib cage without seemingly any cause, while wildly, but completely silently, flailing around in her head at the cause of her sudden alarm. Why was it now, when she needed logic an understanding the most, that her brain suddenly felt empty? It abruptly made her feel like a mouse that was staring down the snake that wanted to eat her... She almost blinked with comprehension, a look of wariness replacing the initial surprise. Was that what she was feeling? That Jax was about to kill her? Before she could unravel the mystery of his expression, do much more than tense her muscles to take a step back, the look slowly melted off the captain‘s face.

“Hi.” The Word finally burst out of him abruptly, quite unexpectedly.

Hi? Celinny finally did blink, eyebrows drawing together. [I]Hi[/I] hadn’t been what she had been bracing against that expression turning into. And even more surprisingly, a moment later, color started flooding Jax’s cheeks before he tilted his head back, taking a deep breath.

“...Good.” Celinny responded to his statement of readiness a moment later, somewhat hesitantly. Then, like a duck shedding water, her outward discomfort fell away, replaced with a grin. Mentally, The young woman tucked her suspicion into the back of her mind, not completely eliminating it, but not focusing on it at the moment either. “Good,” She repeated in more of her usual tone. “I’ve put The guard to sleep, so we’ll just need to sneak out the side door and start heading towards the stable.”

With one last brief look over Jax’s face, the thief then pivoted on the spot and started briskly up the stairs, steps almost silent.