Laura doesn't check up on Ford immediately after the port. She knows that she should, but there's a nameless emotion twisting inside her that keeps her from even wanting to do her job right away.

So it's a fair bit later when she does bother to make her way to his cabin and knock on his door, with a backpack full of potential creature comforts slung over one shoulder, just in case. "It's Laura," she adds, a bit belatedly.