It was on the seventh day of their hastily planned European road-trip that Mark realised that he hadn't grown tired of sharing a Jeep with three members of his crew yet. He was aware that those were famous last words – and there was still a fair bit of time left before they were to head back home – but after countless days of trekking through Mars on a rover, he was grateful that the opportunity for them all to enjoy a long break hadn't been shattered by awful past experiences.

It had been a year and a half since they'd finally landed back on Earth. One and a half years of press conferences, trying to dodge media attention, being constantly analysed by some of NASA's top psychologists, and generally getting used to simple things like normal gravity and breathable air being all around him again.

The nightmares had started to fade, much to his relief. He was aware that he wasn't perfect mentally; Mars had given him his fair share of baggage, and any notion of their trip including vast sandy places had been stamped out early on in planning. He was still touch-starved to such an extent that he felt uncomfortable when Chris (or even Beth, who'd shed any shyness on the trip home to give him tight hugs whenever he needed it) was away for a long time, and sometimes he would space out and need to be brought back to the present again.

But he was coping. He'd been able to move in with Chris, he saw the other members of his crew fairly regularly, and the media had finally moved on from the miracle of the man on Mars. And now he was on a road-trip they'd only ever joked about; back when they'd been looking down on Earth from Hermes and dreaming of the future.

Their journey today had taken them to the south of France; Chris being the only one brave enough to drive along narrow, winding roads as they climbed higher and higher into the Alps. Several motorcyclists speeding past them had given Mark mild heart attacks on a few occasions but otherwise the trip had gone smoothly, and they'd ended up at a Bed and Breakfast in a small village that looked down onto a valley. The owner, an elderly woman who spoke perfect English, seemed entirely unfazed by the four astronauts requesting a room and had only told them to keep the noise down before leaving them to their own devices.

Besides himself and Chris, only Beth and Rick had actually been able to join them. Melissa and her husband had been on a voyage of their own; hunting down some 'classic' disco albums all across the USA now that she'd been given some time off. They would meet Vogel later on in their trip and stay with him for a few days, but only after they'd travelled through the Alps into Italy and up through Austria before finally reaching their friend's beloved homeland. Mark was pretty sure the man would drag them through all the must-see places Germany had to offer to the point where they'd all be exhausted, but he was looking forward to seeing him again all the same.

Rick would leave them after that, considering his future involvement in Ares 5 gave him a much tighter schedule, and whether or not they'd continue east would be a decision the rest of them could make when the time came. For now though, Mark was perfectly happy with sitting still on the small bench outside their B&B, looking down at a landscape he'd never thought he'd get the chance to see again.

It truly was beautiful up here. The village consisted of small wooden houses scattered across a winding road that climbed endlessly, while the view proudly showcased countless miles worth of jutting hills, tall forests and, far below them, green fields that stretched as far as he could see. The sky was blue with only the odd cloud here and there, and despite their altitude it was still fairly warm.

He knew that Beth would be further up the hill by now, taking photos from every angle she could manage to post on her blog (because apparently there were still a collection of people who had an interest in their lives, and she was the most tech savvy of the group). Rick was inside, probably trying to maintain a good enough signal to talk to his family on Skype at this point. Knowing they were so close helped Mark breathe a little; let him embrace being alone with his thoughts rather than feel the crushing weight of loneliness.

Not that he was alone for long. He saw Chris's shadow get bigger on the grass before he heard him approach, and he gave his partner a small, reassuring smile as he sat beside him. Chris returned it before automatically shifting over so that their bodies were touching, and it was the type of action that made Mark wonder all over again what he'd done to deserve Chris.

When they'd first met and gotten together, Mark had been carefree with no emotional baggage and he knew it must have been strange for Chris to see him shaking in his sleep from nightmares or curling up during storms or power cuts, or even just panicking more than he should if Chris left the house for two minutes.

And yet, Chris had stayed. Had promised to help him and had never once backed down. Had started to give small hugs whenever he could, or held Mark's hand if he seemed like he was zoning out, or woke him up and reminded him that he was safe when the night terrors reared their ugly head. And he was here now, thousands of miles away from home, ready to go anywhere Mark wanted to. It was overwhelming at times, just how much he was loved, but he knew he wouldn't have recovered nearly as well as he had without Chris by his side.

"You okay?" Chris asked, linking his fingers with Mark's and following his gaze out to the valley beyond them. Mark nodded, relieved that it was the truth, and squeezed Chris hand to emphasise it.

"I just-" he started, and he was suddenly very aware that he didn't have the words for what he was feeling right now; didn't know how to express what being able to travel and see all these places after being stuck on a desolate planet meant to him. "The whole time I was on Mars, I might as well have been in a box. A massive, sandy box, but a box that barely changed and cut me off from everyone I cared about."

Chris didn't interrupt, but he could feel that the man's eyes moving away from the landscape and onto his face. The silence helped; he could feel his head starting to clear and he finally knew what he was getting at.

"And it's like, the longer I'm in that box the more I forget what's outside of it, because all I know is sand and craters and maybe the odd valley. So this," he gestured to the landscape around them, the age-old beauty of the hills and the forests and the distant snow-capped mountains hidden behind clouds. "I never thought I'd have this again. I never even thought I'd see any of you again, let alone Earth. So this... right now, it's like I'm seeing all of this for the first time."

He trailed off lamely, not sure if any of that made sense, but he could feel Chris squeeze his hand and he turned to see a small smile that barely masked the sadness in those blue eyes. Mark had always joked that Chris was an open book, and he certainly couldn't hide now. Feeling overly sentimental himself, Mark gave the man the biggest grin he could manage in an attempt to break the tension. "Look at me, spouting pseudo-intellectual bullshit. Who'd have thought, eh?"

Chris laughed before resting his head against Mark's shoulder, and Mark felt a lightness that assured him they'd be okay tonight. "Save the intellectual shit for the NASA recruits. They'll love it."

Mark smiled and wrapped his arm around Chris in a not-so-subtle attempt to bring him closer. Mars had turned him into a hugger, it seemed, but he couldn't complain if it meant he got to be this close to Chris on a regular basis. "You know I love you, right?"

"Well, you've only told me twice today so I was starting to doubt it," Chris replied, and he looked up at him with a proud smirk. Mark didn't have time to form a retort before Chris leaned forward and kissed him lightly, the smirk giving away to a smile he knew was genuine. "I love you too."

They stayed cuddled up on the bench for a while after that, being interrupted only by the occasional dog-walker or car struggling up the steep roads. A red sunset was starting to form shadows on the grass when Beth finally returned from her hike, scanning her photos and only seeming to notice them both as she started for the door.

"You two are sickening, you know that?" she said, struggling to hide a smirk as she wandered over to the bench; the promise of a wifi connection seemingly forgotten.

"Hey, you knew that when you decided to come with us," Mark said, arms raised in mock defiance. "I'm pretty sure that "by the way - Mark and Chris will be annoyingly cuddly at all times" was written on the terms and conditions somewhere."

Beth giggled before telling Chris to budge up so she could sit with them. The doctor only managed one exaggerated groan before he obliged and Beth slid in beside them easily. It helped that she was tiny; her small size had probably made the back of the Jeep endlessly more bearable for both herself and Rick. It had certainly kept the whining to a minimum, meaning Chris and Mark had only had to pretend to be exasperated parents once while in a particularly packed traffic-jam in Paris.

They sat in comfortable silence as Beth set about showing them the photos she'd taken, her walk up the hill having benefited her greatly in terms of the sheer beauty she'd managed to capture. When she ran out of the day's photos and stumbled upon an exaggerated Paris-selfie of them all sticking their tongues out, she extended the camera as far as she could and proposed; "Another one for the sake of it?"

"Why not?" Mark shrugged, already planning his best ugly pose. "We can show Martinez and make him feel left out."

Beth grinned and started to count down, allowing Mark to reach around her and place his arm around Chris again. He barely had time to notice the man's responding smile before he pulled a face just in time for the flash. It was worth it for Beth's scandalised look and Chris's sudden laughter as they checked the image.

He could get used to this. Spending time with his friends in an environment that wasn't constantly trying to kill them. Being able to relax and laugh with them as they drove through mountains and on endless European motorways. The journey with the Rover seemed long forgotten now; his complaints about the endless days trapped in such a small space rendered void.

In that moment, Mark knew he would give anything to make their current journey last as long as he could.