It was late that afternoon When Lili made her way back from her walk down to the river where she had washed away that morning’s passion before needing to calm her nerves with a much more boring activity, like fishing. When she approached the shack again, it was to find her two lovers awkwardly preparing lunch together, both looking a bit relieved at her return.

Lili took a deep breath as she approached the fire pit, none of them quite sure what exactly to say in greeting after the entirety of that morning. But they were soon rescued from that pronounced silence when the sound of Hope’s latest cry for attention came from inside the still open door.

“I’ll get her” Jared offered just as Lili was about to rise from the seat she had just taken.

“Really?” she asked with a raise of her brow.

“She has to eventually get used to the idea of the makeshift bottle we put together for her. May as well give it a try today, right?” Jared shrugged before heading inside, closing the door gently behind him.

It was a few more moments of deafening silence before Ian finished poising the meat above the flames and moved to take a seat next to her. She simply swallowed a bit, eyes still downwards, when he finally spoke “and how are you, uh, feeling this fine afternoon?” he couldn’t help a small smile through the words.

“Could we please quickly get all the sex jokes outta the way and move on with our day?” she returned with another shake of her head.

“Depends on what you mean by ‘moving on’” Ian couldn’t help another little smile.

“There’s one” she replied, with another shake of her head.

Ian did let out a small chuckle before he took a breath again and seemed to switch gears, slightly, “actually, I wanted to ask you about, uh...”

“You? At a loss for words?” she returned with only a trace of sarcasm.

Another shake of his head, “just wanted to check to make sure you, uh, ate those plants or whatever they are. You know, to keep our daughter an only child? For the time being, anyway” he added more quietly.

“Subtle, Ian” Lili replied.

“I think we passed subtlety after about your twentieth orgasm this morning” he allowed another small grin, not being able to resist that bit of commentary right then.

Lili couldn’t help the slight blush at the reminder of how intense their passion had been for all three of them, though especially so, for her. She took a slight breath, “actually I made them into a tea. Slightly easier to get down.”

“I never pegged you for a tea-drinker” Ian returned, then had to add, mischievously, “or a girl who had a lotta trouble swallowing”

Lili let out a gasp at that comment as she moved to give him another light smack across the chest, before he caught her wrists easily and smiled over at her.

“Or apparently a girl who likes it rough” he had to get that shot in.

“You are so beyond fucking evil!” she exclaimed, though there was laughter in her words for once.

Before she could play-act any more outrage, or hear any more of his ever so colorful comments, he easily pulled her closer, covering her mouth with his in a long, mutually passionate as well as tender kiss between them.

The two were still caught up in that kiss when they both suddenly startled apart at the sound of someone clearing their throat mere feet away. Both were expecting Jared but were shocked to see Will before them once more, carrying a heavy bundle with two flight suits across his back.

When he and Ian’s eyes met briefly, following that interrupted lip-lock between he and Lili, Will looked down quickly before moving to drop that heavy bundle to the ground.

“You’re...back....?” Ian stated the obvious with more than a bit of shock, as well as a few other emotions right then.

“Need Jared to come. Brought suit for him.” Will stated, busying himself with pulling the suits apart for use, and seeming to have backpedaled somewhat in his linguistic skills, his voice wavering slightly as he spoke.

“Need Jared to come?” Lili repeated with a bit of panic, “is Kyle ok?” she asked, all her previous worries returning to her suddenly again.

“Others are sick” Will said, still not looking back at where Ian had since moved slightly away from Lili now. “Jared needs to help them.”

“Others?” she and Ian both nearly choked on that word.

“Yes, but some are sick. Jared must come” Will stated as he finally had finished readying the suits and stood with a bit of a deep breath of his own, only glancing back toward Lili and Ian with a sideways glance.

Before any more questions could be posed, Jared emerged from the shack once more, looking equally shocked by Will’s reappearance.

“We found others. Some sick. You must come help” Will re-explained the pressing matter at hand, glad to have someone else to focus his attention on besides Ian and Lili right then.

“Come... to the other planet?” Jared swallowed a bit harder, “and others?” he had to repeat that bit.

“Questions later. Help them now” Will stated plainly as he moved to reach for one of the suits to lift it into Jared’s arms pointedly.

“Um, yeah, of course” Jared agreed as he took a deep breath before conceding to pull that suit back on once more.

Ian and Lili worriedly watched as the two of them slid into those suits. Neither seemed able to really articulate all their own worries and questions right then though. But it was only moments before the suits were in place and Will closed his hand over Jared’s arm, and then they were just gone again.

“And then there were two” Ian offered after another moment of silence between he and Lili.

“Don’t you mean three?” she returned, though her words were barely a breath as she distractedly pushed herself up from her seat to go and tend to number three in the hopes of keeping her mind from reeling in a thousand other worried directions right then.

When Lili reappeared outside a few minutes later, Ian handed her a bowl of their since prepared lunch. They then took seats to share the meal there, alone, together, on a planet whose entire population had now dwindled to three in just a little over two weeks.

“So, do we think these ‘others’ are from our ship?” he finally stated one of the many questions in both their minds since Will’s sudden arrival and quick departure, with Jared in tow.

“Can’t imagine who else they’d be” she returned, though softly as she continued to force a few more bites.

“And he said sick” Ian added as he watched her closely for any reaction.

“I heard” she agreed in the same quiet tone.

“And in his vision this morning, he saw your mother, someone from the ship...sick” he connected those dots for her in a deliberate slow tempo as he continued to keep his eyes on her.

Lili just allowed a slight scoff as she lost interest in her meal easily once again, “I thought neither of you wanted me to get my hopes up about ever seeing her again, though” she returned, her voice slightly rougher then.

Ian nodded in concession, but had to add, “given, that was before we just found out there were any other people at all.”

“Well, make up your mind. Should we, or shouldn’t we have hope?”

“Didn’t we already?” Ian couldn’t help a small smirk, though Lili still didn’t look very amused, all things considered. He then sighed softly as it was obvious that Lili was too worried to continue that conversation right then. So, he moved on to another of the thoughts that Will’s visit had started on a loop in his brain, “so, did he seem off to you?”

Lili then looked up at him with narrowed eyes, “who are we talking about?”

“Will, did he seem off?”

Lili couldn’t help a derisive laugh at the question, “firstly, I’ve spoken to him for all of one conversation, ever” she began, “secondly, why are you even asking me? He’s your lover, not mine” she added more quietly, another look down.

As Lili did have a point, Ian decided not to press that subject either, and instead opted to maul over it in his own brain a while longer as he finished lunch. Once the meal was over and the dishes gathered, Lili headed down to the river to wash them for the next meal. Ian then called down to the riverbank to let her know that he was going to go to that clearing nearby and try to hunt them down some dinner, but he would not stay away long.

Lili then sighed heavily as he departed, finishing her cleaning of the dishes in the river water, and sat back on the bank in rather deep thought. Several minutes later, she heard loud coughing coming from the direction of the shack as she turned back, obviously startled by the sound.

That was when she saw Will had reappeared once more and removed his helmet, coughing heavily to allow his lungs to readjust to the trip that he had literally made through space and time for the second time already that day.

“Maybe you should slow it down with the inter-planetary teleporting for one day” she greeted him with worry as her feet carried her back over to him, where he was still coughing a bit.

When he did finally manage to catch his breath, to some degree anyway, he finally stood upright, looking down at her with those huge doe eyes, towering above Lili by almost an entire foot, just as Jared did.

“God” she said, a little caught when she looked up into his usually hidden face.

“What?” he asked, still a little breathless from his trip.

“Just, first time I’ve ever even really gotten a good look at your face” she replied, still staring up at him.

“Something wrong with it?” he asked as he innocently touched his own cheek.

Lili couldn’t help a small laugh in response to that particular question, “not hardly” she managed as she smiled up at him with a slight blush before continuing, “matter of fact, I think you make me feel self-conscious.”

“Not sure I’m understanding” he replied worriedly as he held her own strikingly beautiful face in his dark gaze.

“Just, for the last year, these fools had me convinced that I actually was the prettiest girl around. Then you came along” she teased back up at him with a smile.

Then Will allowed what sounded like a sincere laugh, “you think I’m pretty?”

“Anyone with eyes would think you’re pretty” she stated, though immediately looked down, embarrassed by her own openness somehow.

Will allowed another small laugh as he finally moved to pull the suit off again, “not sure about that” he said in a quiet tone that made him seem even more girlish and somehow unsure of himself just then.

“Well I am” she smiled back at where he had now finished removing the flight suit, and then Lili smiled once more as she offered him what was left of her unfinished lunch.

“Thank you” he said politely as he took the bowl, their hands touching for the briefest moment, before he quickly looked back down again, forcing his attention to the meal, and leaving Lili not sure if he was thanking her for the food, or the compliment, or both just then.