Ian sighed as he looked back toward Jared, “Yeah, it may be worth a try, but is it really realistic?”

“How do you mean?” Jared returned.

“Think about it: It took us two months to even find this thing. Lili’s almost four months pregnant already, right?” he sighed as he cast another sad look down at the barren supply crates, “And do you really wanna wait another two months on Kyle to catch up to us to maybe fix a computer that could maybe send a message to some ship or another that just may be within range at that particular second?” he stated sadly, “Not to mention, that even if we did stop looking for the ship to wait on Kyle to get here, he would be making that entire trip, alone, and leaving Lili just as alone too, going into her third trimester. I don’t really think that’s that great of an option, now is it?” he added with even less volume.

“But it wouldn’t take two months.” Jared denied.

“How do you figure?” Ian asked skeptically.

“Let me show you the map.” Jared stated as he gestured back outside to the log where he had left the computer, along with the rest of their belongings.

Ian simply sighed tiresomely, but didn’t argue as he followed Jared over to where the younger of them picked up the small computer and called the latest version of the map up on the screen, “So, what am I supposed to be looking at?” Ian asked over Jared’s shoulder.

“Ok, now this is the last part that I updated.” he began as he pointed at the area he spoke of, “We’ve traveled about twenty miles from there. That’s the stream we were at this morning.”

“Twenty miles?” Ian raised a brow.

“A little less.” Jared shrugged.

“Twenty miles?” Ian repeated pointedly.

“Yes, humans walk three miles an hour. We walked for about seven hours, didn’t we? Just stopped for lunch, so knock like a mile and a half off of that twenty-one.”

“Ok, great, but how does any of that explain why it wouldn’t take him two months, just like it took us?” Ian pressed with his usual impatience.

“Ok, given, in the last two months we’ve probably walked a total of about fifteen hundred miles, but---”

“Did you just say, fifteen hundred?” Ian interrupted with disbelief.

“Yes, we walk about thirty miles a day, and we’ve been doing that for sixty days, now. That would be eighteen hundred. But I knocked off time for eating, and hunting, and already subtracted the time for sleeping.”

“Can we go back to the part about fifteen hundred miles?” Ian interrupted again, “As in half the length of the entire United States?” he added more pointedly.

“Could you let me finish?” Jared complained with a trace of annoyance.

“Sure.” Ian returned with an obvious sarcasm as he took a seat on the log, “Tell me how fifteen hundred miles, isn’t gonna take another two months. Can’t wait to hear this.”

Jared sighed as he shook his head back at Ian, “Remember, until today we were just walking in bigger and bigger circles. That’s a lot of walking, but not a lot of distance.”

“Distance?”

“From the shack.” Jared stated simply.

Ian narrowed his eyes a moment as he thought on the statement, “Ok, so how far are we from there, actually?”

Jared allowed a small smile, “I’d say maybe a little over fifty miles, if we actually could walk in a completely straight line to get there, anyway.”

“Fifty miles?” Ian returned thoughtfully, “And what did you say we walk? Three miles an hour?”

“Approximately, not counting stops, of course.” Jared offered.

Ian took another moment before responding, “So, like, less than twenty-four hours?”

“Well, we would have to stop to eat and sleep and hunt, so I’d say, about a two day walk, if we were moving eight, nine hours each day.”

“Two days? Not two months?”

“Not two months.” Jared smiled back.

Ian allowed a shadow of a smile then as well, thinking over the information for a few moments before speaking up, “And how long does Kyle think he’ll need to work on this thing?”

“He wasn’t sure about that.” Jared admitted more quietly.

“So, Lili would still be left alone if we all came back here and waited on him to maybe get it working and maybe get a message to someone.”

Jared allowed a slight sigh, “I’m guessing that if we go to get Kyle and show him the way back here, one of us should probably still stay there, with her, at least until he finds out what he can or can’t do with this thing.” he stated with a quiet look downwards.

“One of us?” Ian returned warily.

“It’s the safest bet, at least until we decide if and when we might make another trip out here to keep searching for the crash site.”

Ian also looked down with an obvious attempt at hiding any emotion, “And we both know which one of us is gonna have to come back here with Kyle, right?”

“I suppose either of us could come back with him, technically.” Jared returned, though the words seemed more forced than sincere.

“But it’ll be me.” Ian stated simply, “And you’ll be staying back there with her.”

“We don’t even know for how long though, honestly. It might only be a few days.” Jared attempted with a shrug.

Ian just scoffed with an insincere smile, “And you expect me to believe that you’ll be willing and able to leave her there without you again, if we need to?”

Jared then looked down again with his own guilty sigh, “Honestly, I think I’m more afraid, now, than I even was before, of leaving her there to have the baby without me around to at least try and help. Ship or no ship.” Jared admitted, though in a whisper.

“You think I’m thrilled with the idea of not being there when she has it?”

“I didn’t mean that.” Jared attempted.

“Yeah, but you’re the doctor. I’m just the body guard. Our roles, and the real importance of each of them, are more than obvious. They really always have been.” Ian added under his breath as he moved to retrieve his pack and slowly close the pod door, wordlessly.

“Ian…” Jared began, unsure of how to even continue.

“Come on. Let’s go get the other genius, so I can just do my job and escort him back here, instead.” Ian mumbled as he secured his belongings and began heading away from the clearing, not bothering looking back as Jared sighed heavily before hurrying to catch up to him, though in silence.

It was a few evenings later when Lili had at least decided to join Kyle by the fire for their shared dinner for once. Though neither said much, she couldn’t help noting the way his eyes constantly moved to the tree line. She sighed slightly before cleaning up the dishes and noting his gaze on that tree line once more.

“Expecting company?” her voice finally interrupted his thoughts.

“What?” he asked as he looked back up at her with a slightly guilty smile.

“You’re watching those trees like a hawk.”

“I’m vigilant.” he offered another innocent smile.

“And why are you smiling?” she asked skeptically as she easily caught the expression in the fire light.

“I need a reason, now?”

“Uh, yeah.” she stated bluntly.

Kyle couldn’t help chuckling a bit at her response, “You’re outta bed, for once. We had a good meal. Why not?” he shrugged, the small smile remaining as he put back whatever was left of the meal.

“Let me guess. You found the special mushrooms this time?” she returned, still looking at him with a lack of trust in his explanation.

Kyle just chuckled again, though he didn’t need to offer any more of an answer for her as the two both simultaneously turned toward the trees at the sound of approaching footsteps. Lili swallowed hard as she quickly moved to reach for the gun they always kept within reach.

“Now who’s channeling Ian?” he asked as he glanced back at her shaking hands grasping the gun, an eyebrow raised in her direction.

“Don’t you hear that?” she whispered, her eyes glued to the trees, awaiting any visual contact with the owner of the footsteps.

“You’re a little jumpy, aren’t you?” Kyle returned with a decided lack of worry in his own tone.

“You don’t hear that?” she worried aloud, only allowing a sideways glance toward him, before her eyes quickly moved back to where Ian and Jared came into view at the edge of those dark woods, “Oh my god.” she breathed, easily dropping the gun from her hands as she took a step with squinted eyes, to make sure she wasn’t just imagining their arrival.

“Letting the girl hold your gun for you? Why am I not surprised?” Ian teased as Kyle just shook his head with a chuckle as Lili rushed forward to greet them, her tears actually seeming joyful for once.

“Yeah, I already don’t miss you.” Kyle retorted with a lack of seriousness as he smiled over at where Lili practically fell against both men in a huge, tearful hug, which they easily returned.

Finally, after another moment and another sniffle through her surprisingly happy tears, Lili finally forced herself to relinquish her hold on the two of them as she managed a slightly accusatory look back toward Kyle, “You knew they were coming back, didn’t you?” she growled, though there was a lack of any force to her tone.

“I am a genius, remember?”

“Shut up.” they all returned in near unison, causing Kyle to just smirk and chuckle lightly again as he moved to place the gun back in it’s previous resting spot.

“But, you didn’t find the ship, though, did you?” Lili finally asked with more seriousness at last.

“No, not yet.” Jared agreed before looking back at Kyle, “So, why didn’t you tell her?” he asked with a creased brow.

“I guess I wanted to see her face when you two got back here.” Kyle attempted to shrug off their question for fear of being seen as showing any kind of sentimentality himself, as that was still quite a foreign trait to him.

All three just shook their heads at him before Lili spoke up again, “You guys must be freezing. Come inside, it’s like five degrees warmer in there.” she attempted a smile.

“Mind if I borrow Jared to talk about what they did find first?” Kyle asked, as Lili and Jared both looked back at his words, “I’ll return him promptly.” he assured with another slight smile.

“Come on.” Lili easily gave in, too happy about their return to bother with any other petty complaints. She simply grabbed Ian’s arm and began escorting him back inside with her as Jared took a slight breath, looking after them once more before moving over to join Kyle at the fire once the door closed behind them.

“So,” Ian began once they got inside, “I can only assume you miss---” though his words were cut off as she rushed into his arms, pinning him to the wall as her mouth covered his in a kiss that she had waited two long months to share with him again. After several dizzying moments, she finally allowed him room to breathe, though still stayed pressed against his body, where his hands had automatically moved to her hips to pull her closer still, “I gotta leave more often.” he breathed a bit heavily.

“Shut up.” she attempted to scold, though it came out more as a relieved laugh, before she then didn’t spare another moment before her hands moved to begin pulling away his holster and belt.

“Still not a fan of guns after all, eh?” he allowed a slight chuckle as she finished dropping the weapons to the floor where she still held him captive between herself and the section of the wall right inside the door.

“Not that kind.” she breathed against his neck as she just as eagerly moved to pull away the fur wrap he had over his regular shirt and jeans.

Ian just chuckled again as she dropped the wrap to the floor and already started pulling his shirt away in the next moment, “You know, they could come in at any second.” he reminded her, though the laughter in his tone proved that he wasn’t really all that concerned with such a fear, despite his mention of it.

“Since when are you shy?” she teased as she finished pulling his shirt away.

“Since when are you not? Has Kyle been starving you for affection all this time? I could go beat him up for ya.” he teased.

“You have better uses for your energy, right now.” she growled playfully as her hands then moved to his zipper as well.

“Well at least I don’t have to worry that you’re not feeling well, do I?” he teased further as she pulled open his jeans, beginning to tug them down his legs.

“I guess Jared’s not the only one with healing abilities, huh?” she teased back as she pulled off the jeans along with his boots.

“Oh believe me, I can heal you, all night.” he smirked again before moving to lift her into his arms and starting back toward her bed as she just squeezed him tight against her, forgetting all her fears and worries for that particular moment. However temporarily, it was still something both she and he needed a moment to forget, desperately.