A/N & A Big Disclaimer: Here begins the sequel to Everything Is Illuminated. We're switching things up with a rewrite of Season 4.5, if you hadn't already got that memo. That means that substantial tracts of dialogue, and events, are borrowed directly from the show. This is pretty easily defined as plagiarism, though I make no pretension to ownership of Eureka in general or the dialogue specifically.

Catching Fire

She hadn't believed Allison.

Jo stared blankly at the wall over the humming breast pump. Allison had tried to warn her months ago about moments like these. "Kids are exhausting," she'd said, and Jo had smiled and kept her own counsel. She'd been to war after all, hadn't she? She knew from exhaustion. Surely a baby would be relatively easy in comparison.

Dear God, she was tired.

Jo set aside the bottles of fresh breast milk, wrinkling her nose in distaste. She'd become accustomed to life as Claire's perpetual juice bar (as Zane had so tastefully put it), but this was the first time she'd used the pump in order to provide someone else with her own breast milk. Of course, it was also the first time she'd left her daughter for more than an hour or two, but it wasn't like she had a choice on either count. Today would be her first day at GD after four months of maternity leave.

And her first duty of the morning was, of all things, to attend a robot wedding. Zane passed by on his way to the fridge, already fully outfitted in his new tuxedo, and rubbed Jo's shoulder in silent reassurance. His days of leave had ended a couple weeks before hers, a discrepancy about which he'd been oddly silent.

Jo removed the breast pump and fussed with her top before crossing the room to join her fiance by the fridge. She had just reached out to grab the handle when a low wail came over the monitor placed on the island countertop behind them and both Zane and Jo froze, looking at each other. The cry heightened in its pitch. Zane gave Jo a wry smile.

"At least it's still warm," he said, gesturing at the freshly bottled milk. "I'll go." Jo shook her head.

"We're going to need that tux," she pointed out, already moving toward their bedroom. "Spit-up is not your ideal wedding accessory." Zane grinned, leaning against the counter.

"But it looks so hot on you," he said, waggling his eyebrows in suggestive mockery.

"Can it, sweetheart," Jo's voice trailed back to him as she vanished through the bedroom door. "Or I'll have Fargo send you to the mucous labs again."

"Empty threats!" Zane called after her, raising his voice to be heard. "There's nothing more disgusting in GD than a four month old!" Jo reappeared through the doorway, one eyebrow raised.

"You want to say that to our face, stud?" Claire was pressed to Jo's chest, intent on nursing. Zane's eyes softened at the sight.

"I suppose she's not so bad," he allowed, crossing the room to join them by the couch.

"Says you," Jo muttered. But her eyes shone as she watched Claire eat. She glanced up at Zane. "I don't really want to go," she admitted. "I thought I would be clawing at the walls by now, but I keep thinking: it's so soon." Zane wrapped an arm around them carefully, pressing a kiss into Jo's hair.

"I bet you'll feel differently once you see what's waiting for you at GD." Zane assured her. Jo made a face.

"What, more paperwork?" Zane laughed.

"Come on, it's been a while now but you know how it goes. This is Eureka, and Allison cleared you for full duty. You'll be plenty busy." Jo gave him a reluctant smile.

"I suppose that's true." She looked back down suddenly as Claire, appetite sated, gave her an impatient kick. "Hey now, none of that." She handed the bottle to Zane and lifted Claire up to rest on her shoulder, where a small towel was ready and waiting. She began patting Claire's back gently, and Zane glanced at the clock with a frown.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready? I can take her, you know. I'll be careful with the tux." As if on cue, the phone rang. Jo nodded toward the phone.

"Get that, would you?" She asked, ignoring his question as she slid Claire onto her lap, bracing the little girl in a sitting position.

"Hello?" Jo watched as Zane listened to their unknown caller, slowly raising his eyebrows with amusement. "Alright, then. See you around, Carter." He hung up, looking somewhat bemused. "S.A.R.A.H's called off the wedding. You've been granted a reprieve." Jo rolled her eyes, turning back to her daughter.

"I would've made it." Zane wisely refrained from pointing out that they'd had less than a half hour, and it took at least ten minutes to reach Carter's place. Instead, he watched as Jo bounced the baby on her lap.

"Sorry, Claire-bear, no weddings for you today," she told her. Claire gave her mother a wide, gummy grin, which Jo returned.

"She doesn't seem too disappointed," Zane commented.

"And you are?" Jo asked skeptically. Zane favored her with a warm look.

"I was hoping to get some dancing in. You know, practice." Jo's eyes sparkled as she stood and handed him their daughter.

"I'm sure we can arrange for some... private lessons to make up for it." She kissed Claire on the forehead. "Mama's going to go get dressed now, Claire-bear." Zane watched her go, eyes tracing her curves, until a thought occurred to him.

"Jo? When you say private lessons, you don't actually mean dance lessons, right?" Jo just smiled back at him as she disappeared into their bedroom. "Jo!" In his arms, Claire burbled disapprovingly at his volumes. He looked down at her. "Daddy can't help it, little girl, she's got me wrapped around her finger. As do you." Claire smiled at him. "Yeaah, you do." He muttered.

Jo made it to work at nine, though just barely. She'd stopped at Cafe Diem to procure her own breakfast, and it had been catering chaos after the abruptly cancelled wedding. Vincent had flat out refused to give her a breakfast smoothie and muffin if she didn't also eat a piece of the cake from the ill-fated wedding, and had in fact fixed her with a stern eye as he'd told her that she had better not follow S.A.R.A.H.'s lead.

"Jo, I am truly happy for you and Zane but if you so much as think of changing your mind at the last minute... you realize this is the second wedding in a row that's been cancelled on me? Dr. Stark's death was a terrible tragedy, nobody could have predicted it, but this time... this had better be the last, is all I'm saying." No, Vincent was not at all pleased.

Fargo met her in the rotunda, full of opinions as always.

"I'm just glad she finally came to her senses," Fargo continued, as Jo paged through the reports she'd been given by her second-in-command, who'd been taking her place while she was on leave.

"Really?" Jo asked, half paying attention. "I thought everyone in this place was dying to study a happy little computer couple."

"S.A.R.A.H's just a machine to these people. As the father of the bride - well, the programmer, of the bride - everything happened just... too fast for me." Jo, who knew a thing or two about fast-paced relationships, hid a smirk. "I'm sure you and Zane will understand one day." Fargo added. Jo turned to face him, raising her eyebrows.

"I'd like to get her crawling before we marry her off, if it's all the same to you. Or out of diapers. Or eating solid food." Zane came up from behind her, catching the last few words.

"Yeah, solid food sounds good to me, too. I miss those," he said making a vaguely obscene cupping gesture in the direction of her breasts. Fargo gave him a revolted look.

"Don't you have work to do? Say, an ion damper that was supposed to be ready, oh, I don't know, yesterday?" Zane shot him a look, hoping to cut him off before he said anything that would provoke an interrogation from Jo.

"I'll get to it, little big man." He turned to Jo. "Claire is all set with her 'Auntie Grace'," he said with exaggerated finger apostrophes.

"Good," Jo said, ignoring his mockery of the name she'd offered Grace in pursuit of her babysitting skills. "But we have to come up with some kind of alternative, and soon. Grace has done more than enough for us already. She has to work too." Zane raised his eyebrows.

"If you'd just let that woman from reproductive biology - "

"The blonde harlot lays so much as a finger on my daughter, I'll break yours. Again." Jo said, cutting him off without even looking up from her tablet. Zane gave Fargo a conspiratorial smile.

"She's such a sweet-talker," he said in a stage-whisper. Jo rolled her eyes, turning to Fargo.

"So from what I'm seeing on the overnight report, the worst we have to deal with right away is a micro-breach on the level two sewage line - it tripped the bio-sensor, but it's nothing major, just... annoying." She said, with a pointed look at Zane, who grinned and pressed a swift kiss to her cheek. She bristled slightly, thinking it might be time for another conversation regarding public displays of affection at work, but he backed away at a respectful pace, and she decided to let it slide. They both just needed to do a little adjusting, was all.

"Catch you later, Mommy," he said, turning to leave. Jo groaned.

"Really? We're going to be those parents?" she complained. His grin didn't fade for even a second.

"Ion damper! Now!" Fargo shouted after him. Zane waved a dismissive hand over his head as he sauntered away, not even bothering to turn around. Fargo muttered something about the mucous lab and Jo stifled a smile. He sighed.

"Well, it's good to have you back, at least, Jo." He said. She gave him a small smile.

"Thanks." She looked around the rotunda. "It's good to be back," she admitted. His PDA beeped and he glanced down.

"Ooh! Gotta boogie! Blueberry cobbler today in the cafeteria. It goes fast," he explained, and Jo gave him an amused half-nod as he turned to go. She looked down at the thick stack of files in her arms and sighed. She'd just known this would be all paperwork, all day.

Zane rubbed his eyes as he approached the entrance to the shuttle. It felt like it had been eons since he'd last had a solid night of uninterrupted sleep, and it was starting to show. After Fargo had reminded him none-too-gently about the ion pulse damper he was supposed to have installed, he'd found himself cutting corners and swapping it out for the working version from the boson cloud exciter, which after all no-one used anyway. He'd build a new one and replace it - just as soon as he got some sleep. As things stood, he was pretty sure any attempt on his part to build an ion pulse damper would end in catastrophe.

So he was annoyed to arrive at the shuttle, only to find Fargo engrossed in play time. He knew Fargo hadn't come by this job by legitimate means, but, damn it, couldn't he be professional for once and at least try to meet Zane halfway?

"Seriously, Fargo?" Zane said, crouched by the shuttle entrance. Fargo jumped in surprise.

"Zane! What are you doing here? I told you to get to work on that ion pulse damper hours ago." Zane gave him an unimpressed look. "Asked. I asked you to get to work on the ion pulse damper hours ago." Fargo amended hastily. Zane shrugged.

"Came here to let you know it was finished." Fargo hopped out of the chair.

"Really?" He asked. Zane avoided Fargo's eyes.

"Yeah, handmade by yours truly." He lied, eying the cramped interior of the shuttle. "Why would you bother putting a pulse engine in this bucket? It's gotta be sixty years old." Fargo gave him an unconvincing shrug.

"The launch system's still fine." He defended. Zane raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, but you and Henry pulled out navigation, attitude control," god, he hated being so out of the loop, "comm systems..." Oh. He smirked as he found the answer to his own questions. "Huh. You're going to use this for an unmanned launch. Are you testing something?" Fargo looked away from him, and Zane could practically see him puffing up his chest with self-importance.

"It's on a need-to-know basis." He blustered. Zane almost scowled, climbing into the shuttle on a whim and closing the door behind him to make his point. He flopped unceremoniously into the chair and almost moaned with pleasure, momentarily forgetting all about Fargo as he shut his eyes...

"Are you seriously taking a nap right now?"

...but it didn't last. Zane cracked an eye, cranky.

"What, you can play Luke Skywalker but I can't take a nap? Which is more conducive to success in the workplace, I ask you?" Zane closed his eye. "And anyways, I thought I was need-to-know these days." It was Fargo's turn to scowl.

"This has nothing to do with you or Jo or time travel, so no, not really." Fargo sniped.

That was when the shuttle started to shake. Zane's brow furrowed and he opened his eyes, sitting up.

"Do you feel that?" Fargo asked him, unnerved. Zane shot him an incredulous look.

"Yeah," he said. Fargo's eyes widened behind his glasses.

"Where did you put the ion pulse damper?" He asked, panic seeping into his voice.

"I told you, I installed it in the engine compartment." Zane replied, annoyed, as he slid off the chair and stood to peer out the window. Really? He was harping on this, now? Wouldn't they be better off figuring out what was happening? Zane was about to tell him just that, but Fargo's next words stopped him short.

"Nobody told you to install it!" Hadn't they? "The ignition switches are on!" Fargo shouted.

Not good.

"Well, how was I supposed to know you'd be in here playing with yourself!" Zane shouted back at him. Fargo froze, looking horrified.

"You completed the launch circuit!" Zane's eyes bulged.

"What?" He hissed, the shuttle rattling even harder beneath him and knocking him on his ass. He and Fargo both leapt off the floor and grabbed at the door handle desperately - sealed, so that's what that snap-hiss sound was, Zane reflected, and if he'd been working at his usual speed he would have realized that at this point they were damn lucky that door wouldn't open, but right now all he could manage was pure, primal panic.

And as Zane was knocked on his ass for the second time that day, shouting frantically at Fargo, the one coherent thought that passed through his brain – ironically only seconds before he was knocked out – was, So much for that nap.

Across town, Claire's day was going better than her father's. After S.A.R.A.H's failed wedding, Grace had come by the house with Henry to pick her up. Now she was happily ensconced in her car seat next to Grace in Cafe Diem, chewing intently on a fist while adults chattered around her.

"Who wants more wedding cake?" Vincent appeared on the opposite side of the table, hands full with plates of wedding cake. There was a chorus of protests, to his dismay.

"Come on, I'll never get rid of all of it. And what am I going to do with four hundred pigs in four hundred blankets?"

"You bring 'em out, is what you do," said Jack, whose breakfast had been somewhat interrupted by the wedding in his living room.

"Bless you, Sheriff," said Vincent wholeheartedly. The other three occupants made faces, but Vincent had noticed the guest on the other end of the table.

"And look who we have here!" He exclaimed, bustling to the other end of the table.

"What? I'm hungry!" Carter said to Allison behind him, in an undertone. Grace smiled at Vincent as he knelt in front of the car carrier.

"If only she could eat the cake..." he muttered to himself, then addressed Claire, whose wide blue eyes were fixed on him, her mouth a little 'o'. In the background, Henry inquired how Andy had taken the news. Vincent smiled at Claire, though he addressed her quite seriously.

"I just want you to know, I think it's a crime, what they insist on feeding you. The day they start you on solids, I have got your back, little lady, I have got your back." He gave her a solemn look, and Claire giggled. Vincent stood up.

"Sheriff, those pigs in a blanket will be right out." Jack, completely absorbed in Allison now, barely registered the words.

"So, this honeymoon period between the two of you is going to be over soon, right?" Henry inquired, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, I'm almost out of gas, I think." Jack said, smile slightly sheepish. Allison laughed, reaching down to tickle Claire's foot.

"Oh, we're not so bad, are we Claire?" She cooed at the little girl, just as Vincent reappeared.

"Pigs in a blanket and - " here Vincent sighed " - plain yellow mustard, as requested." Allison wrinkled up her nose in disgust as Jack speared a pig in a blanket on his fork, dipping it into the mustard and practically inhaling the thing. He'd just reached for a second hot dog when the entire room began to shake. The entire table got up as one - knowing all too well that this did not bode well for the town. Grace paused only to unstrap Claire from the carrier and scoop her up into her arms before all four adults ran for the door.

They stood just outside the door to Cafe Diem, peering into the sky, Grace bouncing an agitated Claire in her arms.

"Did we have a launch scheduled?" Grace asked, though she was sure she already knew the answer.

"No," Allison said, lips pursed.

"So... not good then," Jack concluded, and the four adults watched the shuttle disappear in silence.

Jo met Jack, Henry and Allison in the atrium, dragging Larry behind her. She managed to maintain a neutral, professional expression, but inside she was giddy with adrenaline. This was what she'd been missing since October. She was finally back where she belonged, though she felt a pang of guilt at the thought. Still - was it so wrong to be happy she was back doing something she loved?

"Where's Fargo?" Allison demanded.

"I don't know," Larry admitted, arms spread helplessly. "He's not answering his phone."

"Well, find him, Larry," Allison snapped. Jo studied her. It seemed, at the moment, Allison was back doing something she loved, as well. Allison turned to her. "Talk to me, Jo." She ordered.

"The tracking says it was a decommissioned avada class rocket, it was primarily used for manned flight testing but... it could have a warhead." Henry raked his hands over his face with frustration.

"No, it's an unmanned probe, Fargo and I gutted it to test a new engine." Allison glanced at him warily.

"Nuclear?" She asked, hands on her hips with impatience, and the undertones were obvious.

"No, faster-than-light, built on the principle of the Einstein-Grant bridge." Jo managed to maintain a professional veneer, though just the mention of that device was enough to set her on edge. Carter seemed to feel the same way, which was funny (though she wasn't likely to chuckle about it) as he'd come out that incident relatively unscathed, unlike some. Jo was under no misapprehensions, on that point: the ripples that machine had cast through her life had since smoothed out, but it had very nearly cost her Zane.

"The bridge device? There's a gift that keeps on giving."

"There's a protocol for renegade launch." Jo reminded Allison, trying not to let her lips twitch at Carter's commentary.

"Yes, we need to neutralize the rogue with kinetic countermeasures." Allison glanced at Carter. "We blast it with space missiles," she clarified.

"Thank you."

"We need Fargo's authorization." Jo said, giving Larry a pointed look as he fiddled with his phone.

"He's not answering," Larry responded, wide-eyed. Allison frowned and sighed.

"Okay. Larry, get mission control up and running. Jo, send an evacuation team to Section 5. Henry, we need a hard trajectory for the interceptor missiles." Allison directed them. Jo nodded and turned away as the group dispersed, raising her cell phone to her ear.

"Get me McCreary," she barked, taking the quickest route to mission control, adrenaline pumping with each tap of her heels against the polished floors. Oh, but it was good to be back.

Elsewhere - or rather, very, very high above her - Zane was distinctly not enjoying his workday. For one thing, he'd been knocked out and had woken up with Fargo - something he would not wish on anyone - and for another, well.

"No gravity... that's bad." The irony was depressing – finally, he spent some time unconscious and he still didn't get to , preoccupied with the thought, he missed what Fargo said next. When the artificial gravity came on, he hit the ground hard.

"Fargo, what the hell?" He grunted.

"I told you to grab on to something," Fargo said unrepentantly. "Gravity field's operational," he added as an afterthought. Zane peeled himself off the floor to look out the window, though he probably should have known better. Earth loomed out the window, but it was getting smaller.

"Oh, space is bad," he muttered, a little breathless both from his fall and the dawning realization that for the second time in a year he was brushing so close to death they were all but holding hands.

"We just survived launch in a non-launch ready craft, I think today is our lucky day." Zane shot Fargo an incredulous look; Fargo, who, to his recollection, had never been a hairsbreadth away from dying and therefore lacked a certain appreciation for his own mortality - actually, something about that sounded wrong, though Zane couldn't put a finger on what exactly that something might be. Fargo grabbed the headset and put it on, fiddling with the dials.

"Mission control, come in, mission control come..." Fargo trailed off, staring as a bundle of wires came off in his hand.

"You deactivated the comm system, remember," Zane said flatly, staring out the window, literally into space. He licked his lips, thinking about the four month old he'd left in Cafe Diem just a few hours ago. Dying is bad. He didn't realize he'd said it out loud until Fargo gave him a weird look.

"Life support... life support!" Fargo half-shouted behind him, but he barely heard it. He'd promised Jo he wouldn't die, he thought, his pulse speeding up. He'd promised.

Back on Earth, Jo was recalling the incredible satisfaction that comes of leading a team of trained professionals as she oversaw the rescue and evacuation team at the launch chamber in Section 5. The room had been utterly gutted - Jo seriously doubted anyone could have survived, had they been in the chamber at the time of the launch. She was scrolling through the security access information on her tablet when Carter stepped up behind her.

"Wow," Carter breathed when he got a look at the damage. "Anything?"

"It looks like the lab was empty when the rocket went off. Our forensic team hasn't found any bodies."

"Well thank God for small favors." Jo turned to glance at him.

"Did you find Fargo?" She asked.

"Ah - not yet, no." He said, eying the damage. "What about the lab security log?" Jo sighed, frustrated by the utter lack of progress.

"The records were damaged... so far just entries for, ah, Henry, Fargo and Zane." She tilted her head, curious. Zane was working on something with Henry and Fargo? His relationships with the rest of the time-traveling five had improved by leaps and bounds since his coma, but he hadn't mentioned any projects lately. Actually, he'd been very quiet about his return to work.

Jo looked up to find Carter watching her patiently. She bit her lip, embarrassed at having let her thoughts get away with her. Carter just grinned.

"It's good to have you back, Jo," he said sincerely. "And Claire is fine, by the way. Allison and I were having lunch at Cafe Diem with Henry and Grace when the rocket launched. She didn't care for all the excitement, but she's fine." Jo's shoulders relaxed as a weight she hadn't even realized was there lifted off her back.

"Thank you, Carter," she said. Carter gave her a knowing smile.

"Takes a parent to know a parent," was all he said as he stepped further into the rubble, his forehead furrowed. "You know, everybody in town felt that launch, there's no way Fargo would miss this." Jo glanced up from her tablet. Carter was right, of course - Fargo was incredibly paranoid about his new position in GD. And where was Zane? She would've expected him to show up and rub Fargo's nose in it the moment the opportunity should arise. Despite his complicity with the rest of the time travelers, Zane's relationship with Fargo had remained faintly adversarial. And - on some level, she had kind of imagined he'd be there to support her today.

This time, Jo and Carter reached the same conclusion nearly simultaneously. When Carter looked at her and she saw her own thought mirrored in his eyes, she - well, she panicked. Her heart jumped into her throat, and Jo ran to mission control like her life depended on it. Those idiots were on the goddamned shuttle. And Allison was about to blow them up.

Carter was right behind her, and when he began to overtake her Jo couldn't help but be grateful. She was gracious enough to accept her limitations for what they were - felt like she could cut herself a little slack for having given birth four months ago, and if Carter could make it there sooner, so much the better. (She didn't stop running, though, having convinced herself that the effort would at least mean something, in the grand scheme of things.)

She didn't think she'd ever be able to look Allison in the eye again if she lost him this way.

Back in the shuttle, Zane was pretty sure he was asphyxiating, and if it was just in his head, well, it'd be a reality soon enough. Every time he looked at that window again he felt like retching...

"I think I'm going to be sick," he confessed. Fargo didn't even spare him a glance.

"Well, we can't exactly pull over now, can we?" Fargo pointed out, flippant. Zane momentarily fantasized about smothering him to preserve oxygen. In front of him there was a click and a beep, causing Fargo to turn and look at him smugly. It took him a moment to connect the dots, and when he did he perked up.

"Life support is up?" He asked.

"Capsule pressure is steady, oxygen is flowing four liters per second... who's your daddy!" Fargo gloated. Zane leaned forward, feeling better already.

"How much oxygen do we have?" He asked, starting to get curious.

"At least six hours," Fargo informed him triumphantly. Zane gave him an incredulous look.

"Six hours? So basically we're dead by dinner." He pointed out, slumping back against the wall. The suffocating-Fargo thing was sounding better by the minute.

"Mr. Pessimistic. We're going to figure this out. Now is not the time to panic." Zane badly wanted to shake him, to say, I'm going to be dead before it's even time to pick up my daughter from her first day of babysitting, you insufferable tool, but something in the window caught his eye. He leaned forward, eyes fixed on what was unmistakably a trio of missiles coming straight for them. He could guess where they came from. Fucking Eureka and its fucking bureaucracy. Feeling sort of satisfied, in a twisted way - Let's see you do a little panicking, this time - he leaned in.

"How about now?" He asked, indicating the missiles ahead. "They're trying to kill us."

"It's standard protocol for any unauthorized launch." Fargo informed him, missing the point rather spectacularly. Zane parroted him, never taking his eyes off the window.

"Oh, it's standard protocol for any unauthorized launch - because protocols have been working so well for us so far," He hissed. "Nice last words, you geek," he snarled, feeling more alive than he had five minutes ago. Fargo finally - finally! - lost his cool.

"Yeah? Well how about this: you're an asshat." Fargo sniped.

"Bite me!" Zane snarled, well and truly fed up and not at all thrilled at the prospect of his impending fiery death. They went on like that for a solid three minutes as the missiles approached, right until the point that the missiles blew up only a few yards away. Zane and Fargo stared as they were pelted with debris. Holy crap.

"What happened?" Fargo asked breathlessly. Jo. Jo had happened, Zane was sure of it - his absence wouldn't have escaped her attention for very long, even if she was no longer the hawk-eyed Enforcer he remembered. Hell, she must be freaking out...

"I really am going to puke now," was all Zane could manage, the flash of light replaying itself when he closed his eyes. Holy crap. His exhausted mind supplied again. Fargo threw a white paper bag at him (missing him, of course) and Zane grabbed it from the floor before emptying his guts.

"It's still kind of awesome though, right?" Fargo said dreamily, gazing down at Earth. Zane pulled his head out of the white paper bag momentarily.

"It's space. It's huge and awful and if we go out there we die a horrible death. But, oh, wait, if we stay on here we also die a - horrible - death - " Zane broke off to throw up again. "You're a lunatic." He finished, giving Fargo a dirty look.

"We're in space! I've wanted to do this my whole life. I mean, just look out there, it's beautiful." Zane gave him a derisive look.

"That? That's scenery. You can get that with a nice camera. We have got that with a nice camera. Beautiful is holding your newborn daughter in your arms for the first time. Beautiful is - " Beautiful is holding Josefina Lupo in your arms, wearing nothing but your engagement ring, Zane thought, but had the presence of mind to keep it to himself. If he survived this - and Zane had a good enough grasp of probabilities to realize that was unlikely - he was so not ever going to have to confess to Jo that he'd waxed rhapsodic to Fargo over the merits of her naked body.

That was when the proximity alarm started beeping. Fargo gave Zane one last curious look before he turned to look out the window. He didn't like what he saw.

"Oh, that's bigger than I thought it was," Fargo said, sounding intrigued. Zane thought he was missing the larger point, here.

"We're heading straight for it," Zane hissed, watching the space station grow ever-larger through the window. This is it. I'm going to die before my kid learns to crawl. At least it won't be my fault this time. He thought back to the sequence of events that had placed him here and winced. Okay, so maybe it was a little bit his fault.

"Do not hyperventilate." Fargo ordered Zane. "You're going to use up all our oxygen," he added, as an afterthought. Zane barely registered the words, having well and truly worked himself into a panic attack. He vaguely noticed Fargo hitting him on the shoulder, making some kind of demand, but what was the point? They were dead already.

The sound of the oxygen whooshing out the side of the shuttle got his attention, though. He sat up, pushing the all-consuming despair to one side for a moment.

"You're venting our oxygen? We need oxygen!" He exclaimed, panicking all over again until the urgency in Fargo's tone grabbed his attention.

"Not if we're dead. If we vent oxygen out the right side, it might alter the course!" And - huh. He was right. They'd just barely scraped past the space station. Zane glanced at Fargo, somewhat impressed despite himself. Well, until Fargo opened his mouth, that is.

"I scraped the ISS. Now they're never going to let me be an astronaut." Zane gave Fargo a look -seriously? This is your big concern right now? He thought about Fargo's success in evading the space station, and almost, almost held his tongue, until he remembered that he was several hundred thousands miles away from his family and they were still going to die of oxygen deprivation.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he grumbled, and sat back down. "You realize we've traded a quick death for slow asphyxiation."

"You're welcome," Fargo sniped.

"This is all your fault," Zane complained, knowing even as he spoke that it wasn't true. "If you'd just been doing your so-called job instead playing make-believe in the cockpit, this would never have happened." Fargo whipped around.

"If I had been doing my job? How about if you had been doing your job, instead of parading around town showing off your perfect relationship with the perfect woman? Maybe if you'd been paying more attention to your job, you would've known better than to install that pulse damper in the first place!" Fargo ranged. Zane snorted from his seat on the floor.

"What," Fargo hissed. Zane gave him an amused look.

"Jo is not perfect," he stated, staring at the ceiling. Fargo scowled.

"Well, she's darn close," Fargo snapped back, "and you don't deserve her. Why she would ever want to have your kid -" Zane moved fast, making Fargo jump in his seat when his face appeared only inches away.

"Do not," Zane said, in a low, frightening voice, "bring my daughter into this." The Or I will rip your lungs out with my bare hands and stop worrying so much about oxygen, was heavily implied. Point made, Zane sat back on the floor. "And you're right, I probably don't deserve her. You want to know what the trick is, though? I figured it out a few months ago." Fargo knew the exact event he was referring to, but couldn't resist pursuing the curious comment.

"Oh, yeah? What's that?" Zane grinned, slightly obnoxiously.

"It's not up to me to decide." He raised his eyebrows at Fargo. "So, whatcha gonna do about it? Seduce her on karaoke night?" Fargo, instead of getting offended like he expected, gave Zane a funny look - spooked, almost.

"How do you know - " Fargo shook his head, trying to focus. "Never mind. It's not really important. We should focus on finding a way to get us back." His eyes lit up and he reached over, fumbling at one of the panels.

"What are you doing?" Zane asked suspiciously.

"This... is the reason I needed the pulse damper. Behold: the world's first wormhole FTL." That was impressive enough that Zane completely neglected to mock Fargo for actually using the word 'behold.'

"No. Way. You cracked man-faster-than-light travel?" Zane's eyes lit up in much the same way Fargo's had a minute ago.

"Cracked is a strong word... this was gonna be its first test run. Come on, help me install it." Zane stared at him.

"Are you high?" He demanded (oh, it would explain so much, except that he didn't believe it for a minute). "Our inertia will annihilate us on impact with the ground." How could he not have considered that? Fargo grinned, the closest he could get to a smirk.

"Unless they fire up the boson cloud exciter to catch us - which Henry will totally think of!" Fargo concluded triumphantly, and Zane went white. The sad thing, Fargo was completely right. If this technology worked - a not insubstantial if - the boson cloud exciter would almost certainly be able to catch them. There was just one, tiny detail, and as Zane's mind - spurred on in no small part by adrenaline - started to work again for the first time in weeks, it was immediately obvious what a colossal problem they had on their hands.

"It won't work," he said, moving away and staring though the window regretfully. Damn, but if he believed in karma...

"Zane?" Fargo asked, confused and a little alarmed. Zane hesitated.

"Your... ion pulse damper..."

"Which you built... right?" Fargo asked, hearing the ominous tone in Zane's voice.

"More like... borrowed. Temporarily! I just... needed to buy some time." Fargo gave him an incredulous look. "I was still gonna build a replacement!" he defended.

"You took the pulse damper from the boson cloud exciter? Do you know what will happen if they turn it on without the damper?" Fargo shouted. Unfortunately, Zane most certainly did.

"Well no one ever uses the stupid thing! I figured, what was a week or so without one? How was I supposed to know our lives were going to depend on it three hours later!" He stared at the window again. "We're really going to die up here, aren't we." He stated, struggling against the tide of nausea and horror racing up to meet him. Fargo pursed his lips.

"We've got to get them a message," he said finally. "If we can warn them they'll come up with something." Zane spared him a disinterested glance.

"We don't have a comm system," he reminded him tonelessly. For one, selfish moment, he wished Jo was the one there with him - at least they'd be going out in glory together. He reminded himself sharply that Claire was going to need her mother. At least this way she had one parent. At least he'd already made a will...

"Zane!" Fargo said sharply, giving him the impression that this was not the first time Fargo had spoken to him. "Snap out of it! I'm going to use code to send them a message." Zane stared at him.

"Using what?" He asked. Fargo waved a dismissive hand.

"Henry has an old communication panel that monitors the systems on the ship, I'm sure he's pulled it out by now." Zane gave him a skeptical look, but really, what was there left to do? He let Fargo carry on, sitting back against the wall, his eyes drifting closed. If he was going to die anyways, he'd might as well take the damn nap he was going to die for.

Back on the ground, Henry, Grace and a four month old baby stood around the controls to the boson cloud exciter. Grace stood a few feet behind Henry, bouncing Claire slightly where she was pressed against her shoulder. Claire had started fussing about an hour ago, long overdue for a nap. To tell the truth, however, Grace wasn't sure if the close contact was meant to be reassuring Claire or herself. The thought of Zane and Fargo suffocating in space made her sick to her stomach. In her mind she could still see the adoring young father who'd handed over his baby girl just a few hours ago. She could only imagine how Jo was coping, though they'd spoken on the phone not yet an hour ago and Jo had been remarkably calm.

"Not exactly how I imagined spending my day off," Grace sighed. Henry looked up at her, giving her a broad smile.

"You seem to be coping just fine," he teased.

"Now how could I be unhappy holding this sweet little girl?" She said, smiling. "But I have to say, I hope this is all over soon so I can get out of the sun. It's blazing out here."

"Well, you may get your wish sooner than you think – the plasma's coming online," Henry replied, standing up and brushing off his hands.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," she crooned to Claire. "We'll have your daddy home soon, safe and sound." Henry hit the final switch, and the boson cloud accelerator flashed a bright blue. Grace turned to shield her eyes and Claire's eyes as the intensity increased and the whole thing flared before exploding outward. Zane and Fargo had sent their message too late.

Across town, Jo was having the satisfaction of saving the day, which would have been a lot more satisfying were her fiance not several hundred thousand miles above Earth, and in very real danger of dying up there. If - when, she thought firmly, biting down that old panic - when Zane made it home, she was going to have words with him about avoiding putting himself in situations where she needed to save him. What she really wanted to know was, how the hell had he ended up in that shuttle in the first place?

She'd been fortunate in that, when the pulse had hit, she'd already been in the outskirts of GD, investigating an old complaint - the rest of the work at GD didn't just stop during most emergencies, after all. Once Carter had hit the self-destruct on those missiles (and oh, how glad she was that this time there was no missile 'accidentally' lacking the self-destruct feature), there had been nothing left for her to do. And Jo badly needed something to do. So she'd called and checked in with Grace, had refused Grace's thoughtful offer to bring her Claire to keep her company, and had set off on the backlog of work she had to complete.

It had been an hour later that electricity had died all over the town, and Jo had guessed that there would be trouble with their work on the boson cloud exciter. She'd appropriated a few horses from the out-lab she had been visiting and returned to GD to get in touch with Allison and Carter.

Who, conveniently, were right at the entrance to GD. She grinned, pleased with herself.

"Need a lift?" She asked.

"Yeah!" Carter said, obviously delighted. Allison gave the horses a skeptical look.

"Great. Let's go rescue my idiot fiance, shall we? You can tell me what's gone wrong this time on the way."

They reached the boson cloud exciter in good time, finding Henry and Grace already elbow deep in the mechanics of the exciter. Claire rested in her car seat just behind them, also hard at work, in an attempt to remove her hat from her head. Both Henry and Grace looked up at the sound of hooves, only to see Jo dismount swiftly and with the ease of experience before not-quite-rushing over to the car carrier.

"Horses! Now that is a great idea." Henry said, beaming. Carter, who had obviously ridden before, smiled at Allison.

"You did great," he assured her.

" Yeah, well, my ass hurts." Allison complained as Jo picked Claire up, grabbing Claire's hat just before it fell off her head.

"You did gr- I'll rub it later. You did great!" He repeated.

"Hey Claire-bear," Jo said, bouncing her beaming daughter. "Are you having a fun day with Grace and Henry?" Grace hovered over Jo's shoulder.

"I put on her sunscreen and her hat," she said anxiously. "It's so hot, we didn't want to leave her in the truck of course, but I figured it'd be quick and she'd be there to greet Zane. I wasn't expecting the pulse, but I shielded her eyes and it really shouldn't be harmful to her - "

"Grace," Jo cut her off. "It's fine, really. Better here than with Zane." Jo bit her lip, looking skyward. "Let's just focus on getting him home," she said, preoccupying herself with her daughter. Gradually she became aware that the rest of the group had been talking around them.

"...that's great, if we invert the frequency's cycling, we can probably get a message back to them." Jo's eyes darted hopefully to Henry as he spoke.

"Well, not now that we're on Little House on the Prairie." Carter reminded him.

"I tell you what, there's another panel in an old communications station, just outside of town." Henry told him.

"If it's outside the ionic pulse radius it might still be active." Allison concluded. Carter nodded.

"Okay, so we can use that to talk to Zane and Fargo. What about fixing the, ah, catcher's mitt?" Carter asked, and Jo smiled. It would still be dangerous, but at least now they had the beginnings of a plan.

"Well, we've already started to replace all the fried circuitry," Henry said, gesturing at the BCE. "And I could improvise a one-time use ion damper. But we need power."

"Wait, my lab has an insulated energy generator with copper shielding - it might have survived the pulse." Grace broke in.

"Great, we'll grab the IEG, plug it in the BCE, and everything will be A-OK." Carter said, casting a glance at Jo, who didn't even take the time to roll her eyes as she pressed a kiss to her daughter's head and strapped her back into the car seat by Grace.

"I'm on it," Jo said, turning to Grace. "You mind watching her for another hour?" She asked, a little regretfully - feeling the pull to the little girl in the car seat that she'd been trying to resist all day.

"Of course," Grace replied without hesitation. "But what are you - " Jo cut her off.

"Somebody has to get that generator," Jo reminded her. Grace frowned.

"It's a thousand feet into the ground with no working elevator, how are you even going to get down there?" Grace questioned her.

Jo grinned.

"Mommy's going to have a little adventure," she said, tapping a finger on Claire's tiny nose, before swinging effortlessly onto her horse to ride back toward GD. Allison looked at Carter.

"Did she sound a little… gleeful to you?"

Zane owed her a massage in the worst way, Jo decided, standing over the launch tunnel. Her ride here – at full gallop, for the second time that day – had been less than comfortable. What she was about to attempt next was probably going to be downright unpleasant. She'd worked hard to get herself back to her accustomed level of fitness, but nature did set certain limits.

Jo cracked a lightstick, tied it to her rope and sent the whole thing hurtling down below to prepare for her descent. She anchored the rope and sat at the edge, pausing to peer into the abyss. She bit her lip and thought of Zane for just a moment, trapped as he was in that tiny shuttle. Jo took a deep breath. If he was going to make it through this, he would need her help.

To her relief, it was as easy as she remembered, in spite of the recent fluctuation in her body weight and the changes in her proportions. She hit the bottom in a few minutes and began making her way through the dimly lit tunnels with the help of her lightstick. The tunnels weren't exactly what you would call well-known to GD employees, which is why she was startled to hear a voice calling her name.

"Andy? What are you doing here?" Jo asked, perplexed. The robot deputy directed one of his charming, yet blank, smiles at her. Jo resisted the urge to shudder. Robots.

"Looking for a quiet place to collect my thoughts." Jo raised a skeptical eyebrow, looking around at the noisy industrial tunnel, but didn't bother questioning his choice of quiet places. "After S.A.R.A.H. dumped me, I wanted to be left alone." Well. Jo could sympathize with that, though in her experience you could only keep that peace and quiet for so long in this town - case and point, their chance meeting. "But, I was interrupted by a severe ion pulse," he continued. Jo nodded. "Now, my software dictates that I should verbally acknowledge my physical damage. Ow," he emphasized. Jo rolled her eyes.

"Your head is made out of metal." She pointed out.

"Copper bipolar alloy, actually. Durable AND stylish." Jo sighed, but something clicked in the back of her mind.

"That's how you survived the pulse," she said slowly, though her mind was racing. "Andy, you're a power source!" She said, realizing even as she did that he of course would have no idea why that was important right now. He maintained his cheerily blank expression. She shook her head. "Never mind. Look, I need you to come with me."

Things were not going so well up above. Zane woke to Fargo shaking him, looking panicked.

"What, what?" He asked, yawning. Fargo was peering at his eyes.

"Do you have a concussion? Oh man, what if the life support system is wrong and we're already running out of air?" Zane squinted at him.

"Wha?" He asked groggily. Fargo threw his hands in the air.

"You were unconscious! I could barely snap you out of it." Zane rolled his eyes.

"Do you have any idea how little sleep I get these days?" Fargo, realizing his companion was not, in fact, currently nearing death, went back to fiddling with the FTL drive. He gestured at the panel by Zane.

"I could use a little help," he muttered. Zane opened the panel, stifling another yawn. Fargo glanced at him.

"Seriously, when we get back down there, you should get that checked out." Zane looked back at the panel in front of him.

"So you really think we have a shot at getting home?" He asked.

"If they can figure out how to fix the BCE." Fargo said, his focus on the wires in front of him. Zane flinched at the reminder.

"Well, that's a big if," he muttered. Another minute passed in silence. "It's not as easy as you think, you know," Zane said suddenly, finding he was dying to get this off his chest. "We look smooth enough in public, but it's still chaos at home. Jo and I are happy together, and we love Claire, but Jesus Christ, I wish she would just go the fuck to sleep." Fargo glanced at him reluctantly.

"Yeah?" He asked, turning his head back to the wires in front of him quickly. Zane chuckled ruefully.

"See this?" He asked, leaning forward and gesturing to a whitish stain on his shirt collar.

"...yes?" Fargo replied. Zane raised his eyebrows.

"Baby spit-up. I wish I could say that was the worst substance I've been exposed to in the last four months, but I'd be lying. Do you have any idea how many dirty diapers I change in a day?" He asked. "I swapped out the ion pulse damper because I'm so tired, I was afraid I would actually blow something up if I tried to make it. Trying to think is like wading through molasses. You have any idea how weird that is for me?" Fargo frowned to himself, reluctant to engage, and yet:

"What does Jo say about all this?"

Zane shrugged.

"I haven't said anything." He admitted.

Fargo glanced at him from the corner of his eyes.

"She must be tired, too," he prompted.

Zane frowned.

"Jo may not be perfect, but she does occasionally seem to have superhuman strength. If she's tired, you'd never know it. It's my problem. Didn't seem worth bothering her over." Fargo rolled his eyes and gestured at their surroundings.

"Now that it's landed us here, are you starting to think it maybe just might be worth mentioning?" Before he could answer, the shuttle jolted beneath them and alarms began blaring. They both jumped to the window.

"The oxygen's dropping. We've got a leak," Fargo said. Zane scrambled across the shuttle, where there was an access panel on the floor. He pried it open and eyed the wires momentarily before reaching in and getting to work. Within minutes, he had a handle on things - at least, the best he could, under the circumstances.

"I've slowed down the oxygen leak," he announced, glancing at Fargo. "We're down to fifty-six minutes, how much longer do you need for the FTL?"

"Done!" Fargo replied. "We just need to fire this bad boy up and pray that they got our message and have the BCE ready to catch us." Zane hesitated.

"Hey, um - sorry for being so useless, before. You really held it together. We would never have made it this far without you." Zane said, and meant it, as he thought of the woman and the little girl he knew were waiting on him. Fargo gave him a small smile.

"Not such a useless Director now, am I?" He asked. Zane gave him a smile of acknowledgement.

"Though, seriously, anyone would be better than this timeline's Fargo." Zane pointed out.

"Was he really so terrible, because I always thought - " Zane raised an eyebrow, and Fargo shrugged. "Fair enough. Buy me a milkshake after we land, and all's forgiven." He paused. "Except the launch. That was definitely your fault. And the trouble with the BCE." Zane gave him an amused look.

"Vincent's is free," he reminded him. Fargo gave Zane his best Directorial glare, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"Then I guess you're going on a road trip." He said. The effect was somewhat ruined by his confusion as his phone started ringing. For a moment, Zane and Fargo stared at the phone.

"It says unknown caller," Fargo informed him, eyes wide. "What do you think roaming charges are in space?" He fretted. Zane jumped ahead to the important part.

"Answer it!" He hissed, mindful that their survival almost certainly depended on that phone call.

"Hello?" Fargo picked up, then waved his hands at Zane. "It's Carter," he mouthed, ear plastered to the phone.

"Ah, one problem," he said, as Zane watched. "We only have fifty-six minutes - "

"Five," Zane cut in, staring at the clock.

" - fifty-five minutes of oxygen left." Fargo strained to catch Carter's response, but the call cut out. He looked at Zane, eyes wide.

Carrying herself and Andy all the way back up the launch corridor was not an easy task, even with Andy's limited assistance, and Jo couldn't help but wonder how she'd ever believed she would be able to bring that generator up the shaft. By the time they reached the top, she was starting to wonder if she'd been ready for this at all, though there wasn't much she could do at this point. So she was relieved to see Carter gallop up as she heaved Andy and herself over the edge and onto solid ground. Carter glanced at her.

"You okay?" He asked, but she waved a dismissive hand and he moved on. "Where's the power cell?" he asked as she walked Andy over to him.

"I think I found us another energy source," she told him, still breathing hard, and the expression of sheer relief on Carter's face made her gut twist with concern. Things had clearly not improved in her absence.

"Good, we're running out of time," he replied. She helped Andy over to Carter's horse, making Carter's eyes widen.

"Andy's the - seriously?" He blinked, and Jo shrugged.

"His power cell survived the blast," she said by way of explanation, shoving Andy onto the horse's hindquarters.

"Hey, howdy partner!" Andy said as he waved goodbye to Jo.

"Howdy," Carter says as they turned to leave. Jo watched them disappear into the distance, smiling when she heard a faint "I'm on a horse!" before turning to her own horse. She kept it to a steady walk, knowing that there was nothing she could do back at the BCE and that she had probably overextended her body already. I hope you know what you're doing, Zane.

Zane did not, in fact, particularly know what he was doing. He was staring through the window again. It wasn't facing the Earth anymore. All he could see was the black, stretching out before him.

"I always kind of knew I was going to die young," Fargo gave him an impatient glance out of the corner of his eye.

"You already tried that once, remember? I had to clean up after you," Fargo snarked, remembering vividly all of the times he'd kissed Mansfield's ass to make up for Zane's grand, semi-suicidal gesture to a pregnant Jo.

"Yeah, thanks for that," Zane said absently. Fargo rolled his eyes.

"You're not gonna die, and haven't we had this conversation once already?" He pressed another button on the panel. "We're set. You ready to test the power supply?" Fargo asked.

"As I'll ever be," Zane said, longing for the comfortable bed he'd vacated just that morning - it seemed like several lifetimes ago - and the warm, soft woman he'd been sharing it with.

"Here goes nothing," Fargo said, and reached out to press the button. Zane opened his mouth as the drive powered up -

" - well, that's comforting - " he sniped -

- and then there was a entire symphony of beeping, a little shaking, and a very great deal of oxygen loss.

"Tell me that's not another oxygen leak!" Zane said, peering over Fargo's shoulder. Fargo stared at the panels in front of him.

"It's not another oxygen leak?" He sighed.

"... you're lying." Zane said, narrowing his eyes at him.

"Big time," Fargo replied. "We're screwed." Zane sat back. He was sick of this crap. All he wanted to do was go home, change a few fucking diapers, get some dinner, and then, god willing, sleep through the night. Making up his mind, he turned and opened the FTL panel once more. "We're running out of oxygen, and without the FTL... we really are gonna die." This time, Zane was the one to roll his eyes.

"No, we're not," he dismissed. "Come on, man, you saved our asses twice already. All we have to do is fix your precious FTL drive and we're golden."

"Yeah, well, third time's the charm." Fargo muttered. "Even if you do fix it, we'll never last long enough for them to fix the BCE."

"What happened to Mr. Optimistic?" Zane taunted as he focused on the wire puzzle in front of him.

"He woke up and smelled the oxygen leak!" Fargo snapped. Zane raised an amused eyebrow, continuing to untangle and reconnect the wires before him.

"You can't smell oxygen." He smiled to himself as Fargo exploded with annoyance in response.

"Shut up! You know what I mean!" Fargo shouted, slamming his fists on his lap. "You'll never fix the FTL in time."

"Bite me, Fargo," Zane said lazily as he connected the last wire and shut the panel, which lit up instantly.

"You got it running." Fargo said, staring at him.

"Well, we have power." He said, glancing back at Fargo, who leaned forward in interest. "GD didn't just hire me for my pretty face, you know."

"Now we just... need to recalculate the energy vectors, and the destination coordinates." Fargo enthused. Zane snorted.

"Yeah, and pray that they have the BCE ready in time to catch us." Zane pointed out. Fargo ignored him.

"Let's do this," he said, typing frantically into the keyboard. "…okay, that should do it. Coordinates are set. I think we're ready." Zane looked nonplussed. He took a deep breath.

"Okay, well... on your order, Captain," he said, giving Fargo a lopsided grin. Fargo glanced at his watch and leaned forward.

"Engage," he said, and pressed the button.

At the landing site... or crash site, as the case might be, most of the group had regathered. Carter was off to the side, bouncing Claire ineffectively, as she'd been fussing very nearly nonstop since her mother had left again. Grace was occupied, helping Henry work with Deputy Andy. They flipped the switch and, instinctively, Carter shielded Claire's face carefully with his jacket as he squinted up at the blue pentagon of light.

"Huh," Carter said, opening his eyes.

"What?" Allison asked, without looking at him.

"Ah, I was just expecting something a little..." The blue pentagon of light exploded upward, loudly, and Carter had to shout to be heard. "Bigger!" Between the lights and the loud noises, Claire was wailing and adding to the racket -

- and then suddenly it was just the screaming baby, and a lightly steaming spaceship. The other three ran forward to greet their erstwhile companions, while Carter held back, trying in vain to comfort the screaming baby, who clearly had Had Enough.

Inside the rocket – when Zane finished screaming (when Fargo made him stop screaming) – he pulled himself off the floor into a crouch and was immediately confronted by a forest view through the small window. The sheer relief at the sight was nearly crippling, and even as Fargo opened the hatch, Zane found himself slumping back onto the floor. He was still processing, waiting as Fargo clambered out, when he heard an incredibly familiar sound. Zane grinned and pried himself off the floor just to pop his head out from the shuttle. "I believe you have something of mine!" He shouted, before hopping over the side of the shuttle. Carter met him halfway.

"Hey there, bright eyes," he said, lifting his daughter out of Carter's arms with a grunt. "Oof. Did you gain a whole pound today? What on Earth has Auntie Grace been feeding you?" He inquired, tweaking her nose and letting her grab his pinky. She, of course, jerked it to her mouth but he tugged it right back. "Ohhh, I think not. Who knows what microbes were hanging around in that shuttle." He looked up just in time to see Jo dismount from her horse and walk toward him.

"Zane," she murmured, her eyes shining in spite of her reserved approach. She smiled at the sight of their daughter before looking back at him. When she did, he leaned in and kissed her, softly, freeing one hand to brush it over the smooth skin of her cheek.

"I have been missing that all day," he told her, and she turned her head to brush a kiss over the sensitive skin of his inner wrist before looking up at him.

"Me too," she murmured, and wrapped an arm around him.

Pigs in a blanket, Zane found, were vastly improved by a near-death experience. Next to him, Jo was all but inhaling an omelette and a protein shake disguised as a milkshake. She had Claire balanced carefully on her lap, Claire's car carrier abandoned by their table. Zane smiled at Jo's obvious relief in holding her daughter once more. His eyebrows lifted with curiosity as he caught sight of Andy entering the cafe, looking dejected.

"Andy, man," he said, raising his voice to garner the attention of the robot deputy. "How're you holding up?" The AI trotted over to their table.

"I believe I am coping adequately, Mr. Donovan." Andy told him. "Today I was able to have some time alone with my thoughts, and I found it to be a highly therapeutic experience. But now I find myself seeking distractions. That is why I am here." Zane cocked his head with sudden inspiration.

"Say, Andy, you must not have much in the way of distractions at night." He stated.

"No sir, I do not." Zane glanced at Jo, who was eying him.

"How would you like one?" The robot Deputy frowned.

"I am afraid I do not take your meaning, Mr. Donovan." He stated.

"We could use someone around who doesn't need to sleep to help with midnight feedings." Zane said. Jo stared at him, then at Andy.

"Zane," she hissed.

"You could stay in Claire's room. She doesn't need the extra space." Zane continued.

"Zane!" Jo repeated.

"Thank you Mr. Donovan, I will keep your kind offer in mind!" Andy said enthusiastically, before nodding at both of them and joining Carter up at the counter.

"Zane, have you lost your mind?" Jo demanded under her breath. He turned to look at her, his blue eyes serious.

"Jo, almost all of the disasters that happened today could have been avoided if I'd just had more sleep. I can't risk that in a town like this. You need sleep too. And Andy needs something to occupy himself with. It's a win-win for everyone involved," he said. Jo frowned, hearing the truth in his words.

"I'm not sure I like this," she said. Zane shrugged. "It's this or one of us has to stop working, Jo. We have high-risk jobs. We need to be on top of our game." His gaze drifted to Claire. Jo gave him a considering look, then reached out to take his hand in her own, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand.

"Okay," she agreed.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Yeah." She said.

He flashed her a sudden, brilliant smile.

"In that case," he said, eyes dancing with mischief, "I think a little celebration of life is in order, don't you?" Jo gave him a sly look, even as she attempted to pry a spoon out of Claire's tiny hand.

"Ask me again once we have this little monster trapped in a crib, and we'll see."

Fervent thanks to the brilliant Wyndes, who helped make this chapter a reality.

Disclaimer: As noted above, substantial portions of text and concept are borrowed lovingly from Eureka, Season 4.5 Episode 1 ("Liftoff"). In fact, pretty much everything in this chapter is from Eureka (Big surprise, right?) I have decided to amuse myself with the chapter titles. Today's title is "Space Oddity," from the David Bowie song, and I probably shouldn't find that as funny and clever as I do, but c'mon, it was too good.

A/N: I DON'T EVEN KNOW, GUYS. I've been looking at this finished chapter for like four days now? And I still don't know if this was such a great idea. It's just that in yoga practice today, our teacher said to let something go. So I decided I would let this go, because I did promise you a sequel, and, well, this is the only one I've got. I'm sort of hoping these will deviate increasingly? God only knows. Equanimity is the watchword.

I will not know if this is working unless you say something, though, so...