In a way, she is asking for that permission. Whether or not the Air Force exists, exactly, isn't the point. It's that they're both there and he outranks her. He's still the Colonel and she's still the Lieutenant and if he orders her to do something, she'll feel stupidly compelled to do what he says. Especially when it comes to taking care of herself.

Maybe.

And so it doesn't quite come off as an order, but it has the meaning of one and if she forgets or it slips her mind for a day or a week or something, she's sure she'll tell Claire eventually. Just not today. Or probably tomorrow. There'll come a time, though, when she does.

"You know." She says it to lighten the moment, since he'd said it first.