The denim of the human pants provided by Ryan at their appointed meeting point felt rough and stiff against Joshua's thighs, but the shirt and…sweatshirt were less bothersome. But the hat was surely the worst, brim pulled low to offer his features some disguise, it cut off a significant percentage of his vertical visual range.

"Stop fussing with it," Ryan muttered at him as they moved through the crowded shopping center where they had met in an unused side room. There Joshua had traded his easily recognizable V uniform for more traditional Earth garb.

Dropping his hand from the thrice damned brim of the hat, Joshua frowned and stuffed his hands into the pouch on the front of the outer shirt. For a brief moment, he wondered if perhaps that was the function of the marsupial like pouch. After all, with no kind of closures on either side, it seemed like one would be prone to losing anything one might carry around in there.

Despite the need for subterfuge and uncomfortable haberdashery, Joshua was quite pleased to be off of the mother ship and on his way to meet the members of the Fifth column and the human resistance that Ryan had assembled. He was looking forward to meeting some of the humans, especially Agent Evans. He just had to see the person who had managed to nearly kill Dale and yet had produced offspring as unpleasant as Tyler. Perhaps the paternal genetics were responsible for the boy.

When they reached one of the crowded streets, Ryan quickly steered him to the curb and into the rear compartment of an automobile. To his surprise, he found himself with traveling companions. Two women were seated on the bench with him and a man was twisted around to peer back from the front passenger seat as Ryan settled behind the steering column.

The woman nearest him was petite with a mop of chin length black hair, tawny skin and brown eyes. Beside her, the other woman was taller, pale skinned with long, wavy brown hair and paler brown eyes. The man was blond and blue eyed, with tan skin and bigger than Joshua, but possessing a smaller build than Ryan.

It took a moment for him to register that they, like Ryan, were V's that had been living on Earth. They were other members of the Fifth Column.

"Hello," he said softly, unsure how to greet these people who held a sort of folk hero mythos to the new members of the Fifth Column.

"Hey." The male stuck his hand back over the seat and waited patiently until Joshua remembered humans greeted each other by clasping hands. When Joshua awkwardly reciprocated the greeting, the man grinned. "I'm Connor." His voice held an odd, rolling drawl in it that didn't make the words hard to understand, but at the same time ran them together.

"Neela." The smaller woman, whose accent was different, softer and lilting.

"Rebekah." Deeper than he expected, husky and crisp, no discernable accent, but for the slight… humanizing of her tone.

All of them really, they sounded more like humans than they did the others aboard the ships.

"Joshua," he replied, offering a shaky smile. "It is very good to meet you all."

"You as well, Brother," Rebekah reached around Neela and clapped a hand on his forearm briefly. The battered looking mammal skin of her coat brushed the back of his hand, the softest article of clothing he'd yet to encounter.

The rest of their trip to wherever Ryan deemed safe was fairly quiet…as far as conversation went. The automobile's internal combustion engine was loud, as were those of the many vehicles around them. Some emitted blaring noises, apparently to indicate the users discontent with the performance of other pilots. The crowds flanking the roadways shouted, machinery clanged, a pandemonium of sound and vibration unlike anything he had ever known aboard the mother ship. Beneath it all, the small device mounted to the front console emitted a low sound, music Neela hummed softly in tune with.

When they finally stopped, Joshua looked up at the building Ryan led them to and had to admit it seemed a good place to run a clandestine operation from. No one would expect a resistance force to be assembled in such an odd, bright building. The door even had some bright yellow flower painted on the front.

The wood of the stairs clattered under their feet as they followed Ryan up the short flight to the door, which he opened before ushering them in. While Ryan hung back to secure the door, Rebekah proceeded toward the room to the right, then froze in the door way, raising her hands and saying, "Whoa. We come in peace!"

"They're with me!" Ryan called out as he locked the door. "It's cool…They're with us."

Intrigued, Joshua poked his head around the door frame and peered into what appeared to be a sitting area. Five humans were scattered around the room, two of whom still had small hand weapons pointed at the door and a third was holding a lowered weapon.

He recognized Agent Evans as the blond woman with the weapon from the time she saved Marcus's life and their brief brush at the V Compound and the dark haired woman was Valerie Stevens, Ryan's fiancée, from her records from the Healing Center.

The armed men were a scruffy brunette and a tall blond and the final person present was the youngest, another blond woman with big, scared eyes. Still, they all seemed fairly calm, but for the dark haired man who appeared to be a bit twitchy.

Ryan moved past the small cluster of Fifth Column members and stepped into the room. "Put down the gun, Georgie….Erica. They're here to help."

Neither person looked too happy, but they lowered their weapons and the younger blond startled everyone by speaking up.

"Can I get anyone a drink? Coffee, tea, water, juice…." she made the offer with a shaky smile, hands fluttering around like nervous baby birds.

"Coffee'd be great, thanks darlin'," Connor said, shooting the woman an easy smile that caused her to flush, then hurry off to the kitchen visible beyond a long counter top.

"All right," Ryan began, keeping a wary eye on the man he'd called Georgie. "Now that everyone's calm, introductions. Rebekah, Connor, Neela, Joshua," he pointed to each of them in turn, then indicated the humans, "Georgie, Valerie, Erica, Jack and Molly."

The silence that followed, broken only by the small sounds of Molly puttering about the kitchen, was deafening. Both groups stared at each other and no one seemed to know exactly how to extend a conversational gambit.

Inspiration striking, Joshua fished a small recorder from his pocket and flicked the display on. An image of Lisa and Tyler, sharing a meal as the boy regaled the girl with some story about a human sporting event, appeared and the doctor extended the device to Erica. "I thought you might like to see that your son is all right."

With a soft noise, Erica stepped forward and accepted the recorder. "Thank you," she breathed, smiling down at her son's image, obviously relieved. Stepping back, she tipped the device to show Jack, who placed a hand on her back as she said, "He looks good. Happy…."

Yes, she did seem to love the boy, though Joshua still had trouble grasping why. A mother's instinct, he supposed. Mammals were often extremely attached to their young.

"Question," Neela said, drawing everyone's attention to where she still stood slightly behind Rebekah. "Am I to understand that you are the entirety of the resistance here?"

The humans exchanged looks and shrugs and it was odd, jumpy Georgie who said, "There were more of us, but a bunch of V assassins showed up and…."

He was cut off as a cup of dark, hot liquid was placed in his hand by Molly, who then proceeded to stuff a small baked good in his mouth. She smiled and, before moving around to had out drinks and snacks, said, "Don't talk with your mouth full."

Evans accepted her cup and nodded, "We're a bit of a work in progress."

That was a fairly succinct was to sum up the resistance. And soon, they were going to need to make some progress.

TBC………….

Reviews Please!!!!!!