It wasn’t long after Will had finished eating that they heard Hope crying from inside the shack once more. Lili sighed tiredly as she stood, then glanced back at Will, “come on in. You should meet her. You are the one who brought her into the world, after all” she smiled back at him. Will allowed his own nervous smile, but easily stood to follow her.

“She’s so tiny” Will smiled as he looked down at the fussing child as Lili checked her diaper.

“Yeah, but she’s doing better now. Though I still don’t think she likes the bottle much” she added as she glanced at where it sat next to the crib, still nearly full.

She allowed one more nervous look at where Will was still smiling down at the child, it obviously being the first time he had ever even seen a baby either, other than the day she was born, anyway. She then took a deep breath and moved to lift Hope into her arms, casting one more glance at Will as she attempted to gently rock her daughter against her, as awkward as things like that still were for her in all honesty.

Trying to alleviate some of her own nervousness as Will continued to still beam down at mother and child, she spoke again, “so, Jared and Kyle both stayed behind on the other planet then?”

“Kyle is working on the computer, and Jared said he needs to stay with the sick to make sure they get better” he offered the explanation.

“Sounds like them” she managed a smile, though couldn’t help the worried look down at where Hope continued to fuss, despite her attention.

“Maybe she wants to eat too” Will offered innocently at the continued sound of the baby crying softly.

Lili then blushed again, though considering the nearly full bottle, she was pretty sure he was correct in his assessment, “yeah, you’re probably right” she allowed with another slightly nervous smile.

Seeing how amazed he was by the mere idea of the child, Lili was loathe to ask him to go sit outside alone, or leave him there with no one to talk to while she tended to the child. So she steeled herself and only turned slightly away to reach into her shirt where she pulled her breast free, as Jared had showed her. The moment her nipple was within reach, Hope eagerly took it into her mouth, proving Will’s observation.

“Sorry” Lili stated with a deeper blush as she glanced back over her shoulder at where she attempted to keep her back facing him, for the sake of both their dignity.

“For what?” Will asked with the same innocence and childlike curiosity as he took an unassuming step around Lili to watch what he most likely considered the miracle of life, never mind how the situation likely felt to Lili right then.

Though, for all the innocence intended in moving to watch Lili feed her child, Will found himself having another reaction to the sight of her bare breast, now so close he could touch.

He swallowed a bit as he thought back on all the nights before he had felt safe enough to make his presence known to them. There had been many where he watched each of the men locked in passionate lovemaking with the woman now standing before him. And suddenly, the image of her as a mother and her as a sexual creature who he had seen partaking of many carnal delights in nights past, did meld into one in his brain at last; forcing an immediate reaction in his own body as he felt himself harden beneath the modest animal skin pants.

Seeing the change in his expression, Lili looked back up into his beautiful face, “are you ok?” but before he managed some answer of his own, her eyes traveled downwards of their own accord, where his reaction was obvious to her as well. With an even deeper blush then, she forced her eyes to his face again. Then, the next words spilled out of her lips before she could censor them, “you like girls too?”

Will allowed the slightest chuckle at how hung up all of them seemed to be on gender, when he had never really thought about the concept at all, ever in his life. He then tried to provide some answer to her question, “you’re the first girl I’ve ever met, really” he stated with that same innocence that caught Lili once more. Though he then looked down at himself for another moment before speaking again, “but I guess I must.”

Hours after the surgery, when Miranda finally began to come to, Jared startled from where he had been drifting off in the chair next to her bed.

“Rough morning?” she greeted him hoarsely with a forced smile, luckily not looking up to notice the blush that immediately rose to his cheeks, considering his particular activities, and the parties involved in them, that very morning.

Swallowing hard, he managed a response, “take it easy, don’t try to sit up.”

Miranda allowed another smile over at the nineteen year old instructing her on what to do, but she didn’t fight him as she laid back in her bed once more, her eyes moving over the teen as he leaned forward in the chair with concern.

“Wow they really did make you into a doctor, huh?” she added with another small smile.

“Apparently” he responded, attempting his own smile, as difficult as it still was for him to maintain any kind of eye contact with the woman who did have those same turquoise eyes as Lili.

“So, an allergic reaction?” she asked a moment later, repeating what Kyle had told her in order to get her to agree to have Jared brought there to try his hand at saving she and India both.

“Yeah, I’m honestly surprised. I didn’t think you would have had that problem” he stated, though with a bit of awkwardness.

“Which problem?” she asked as she furrowed her brow.

“The reaction was to the IUD” he stated as he looked down before quickly moving on, “didn’t think you’d have one.”

“Cause I’m old?” she called him on it, which did cause him to smile briefly before offering another theory.

“Cause you were the one in charge. Figured you could skip the unpleasant stuff like that.”

“Well, Charles didn’t wanna take any chances; but yeah, this was supposed to be my last one. Then shit. Fan” she shrugged with a bit of sadness below her attempt at objectivity. Miranda then looked over at him once more, “but how did you know it was the IUD if you didn’t even think I had one?”

That was when Jared took a breath, “when Kyle told me only you and India were sick, he sort of had already put together that that was probably why.”

“But how did he know that was why?” she pressed.

Another breath from Jared, “the same thing happened with Lili’s, our second day there.”

Miranda’s worry quickly flashed at that news, “but she was ok though, right?”

“Kyle already told you Lili’s still alive. Don’t get yourself worked up” he told her with that gentle firmness of his.

Miranda decided to press no further into that topic right now. Instead, she moved on, “so when do I get to see my little girl again?” she smiled sadly.

Jared swallowed again, thinking back on he and Ian’s discussion after their morning together, and how they could possibly explain the entire last year to Miranda. “You should probably rest up for a few days before making that trip” he decided, “plus, I do wanna check to see what the state of the ship’s medical supplies is too, before heading back.”

She cast him a regretful look then, before responding, “that’s a good idea and all, only, we can’t really get to any of the more secure parts of the ship. The computerized doors will no longer open for us” Miranda explained sadly.

Jared pondered her words a moment, then thought back on the pod that had belonged to Will’s parents. At first it had appeared that he and Ian couldn’t get that door open either; however Jared managed to, when pushed.

Though not ready to explain that to the woman who he already was dreading explaining a lot of other things to, he decided on a grayer response, “Kyle’s working on those computers right now. So that could no longer be a problem soon.”

Miranda then cast her eyes downwards again, Jared looking at her to explain why the prospect of opening the doors finally would cause that look. But before he could ask, she spoke, “even if Kyle did get the doors open...” she took a deep, sad breath, “that would cause a lot of other problems.”

“How do you mean?” Jared had to ask with a crease of his brow.

That was when Miranda’s steely resolve faltered slightly as she provided the answer, “I mean...60,000 dead bodies worth of problems.”

It wasn’t much later that Jared finally left Miranda’s bedside in thought. He quietly shut the door to the cabin she had taken up residence in since the crash. He then stepped out into the hallway that contained the quarters where all the survivors of the crash had been living; regardless of where they had lived prior to that fateful day. This was the only hall that they had managed to clear out after the tragedy of the day, leaving the rest of the commons untouched, and haphazardly fenced off by a wall of unused furniture to keep the children from wandering.

The only parts of the ship that were still accessible were that one long hall of the commons, the nearest cafeteria, and of course the flight deck and computer hub where it had all gone horribly awry that day over a year ago.

As he made his way in the direction of where that hall connected to the main corridor, and therefore the computer hub, he couldn’t help thinking of the last time he had been to the commons, prior to his leaving the ship. He allowed a ragged sigh to push away the last memory he had of his father, as unpleasant as it had been, and continued on with another deeper breath; the deja vu of being there again on that ship that had been his home for so long, getting more than a little intense at that point.

He managed a small smile as one of the younger children came bounding out of nearby open door. That was India’s room, where she currently lay recovering from her surgery as well. As he stepped by, he glanced inside where the more than beautiful young brunette smiled over at Tyler as he waited near her bed. His hand was clasping hers as he smiled into her aqua eyes, beyond relieved that she was no longer at death’s door after an exceedingly difficult year of having to constantly try to use his own ability to keep she and Miranda both from succumbing to that pain.

Content that he had at least managed to do some good after all, Jared smiled briefly to them before then continuing on his way to find Kyle.

“So we were right” Kyle smiled happily at Jared’s arrival several minutes later in the hub.

“About?” Jared asked with creased brow as he moved to pull up a seat from one of the other computer bays surrounding the largest one in the middle that Kyle had spent three straight years of his life glued to, back when that was their life, anyway.

“Look around. Will got us here, and here we are, on the mother effing ship again!” he answered Jared with continued joy at this new turn of events.

“Go us” Jared stated as he halfheartedly raised his fist before returning it to its previous position again.

“Your enthusiasm is inspiring Jared, really” Kyle returned sarcastically, turning his attention back to the computer again, obviously feeling more than in his element once more.

Ignoring Kyle’s comment, Jared moved on, “so how much did you tell Miranda, anyway?”

“About?” Kyle returned, obviously still distracted by being with his own baby once again.

“Um, the entire last year of our lives?” Jared offered as if that was obviously what he was referring to.

“You mean did I tell her about the b-a-b-y?”

“I’m not quite sure that’s how the spelling thing works” Jared shook his head. “But yeah, that...among other things” he added more quietly, casting a furtive glance toward the door, despite knowing Miranda was still safely out of earshot, recovering in her bed, “like all the things that eventually led to said baby” he added with the same discomfort.

“I’m pretty sure Miranda knows where babies come from” Kyle chuckled, amusing himself.

“Kyle, you know what I’m talking about” Jared said with a bit of impatience, which was such a rare thing for him to display, at least compared to his three companions of the last year.

Kyle just let out a disbelieving chuckle of his own, “I’ll say it again: I am a genius” he smirked before continuing, “do you really think that I’m gonna say ‘hey Miranda, so glad you’re alive. Sorry you’re currently feelin so shitty. And by the way, while we were out, one of us knocked up your daughter. Only we originally had no clue who, since we were all pretty vehemently fucking her on a nightly basis. Oh by the way, here’s the one who took her virginity in the first place, he’ll be saving your life today.’”

Jared just scoffed, “or some version of that.”

That was when Tyler stepped forward from the doorway behind them, looking between the two teens with widened blue eyes, “wow, you definitely did leave out some pertinent details, Kyle.”