Title: May You Stay

Rating: K

Characters: Young Davenport/Goddard friendship

Note: Takes place during "Forever Young" when the adults have been turned into teenagers.

Disclaimer: I don't own Space Cases, but I miss it a whole lot. I'm also getting lazy with my titles (May you stay / Forever young).

May You Stay

Seth shuffled down the hall with a plate of chocolate cake in hand. With no adults to enforce bedtime, mealtime, or any other time, he'd found freedom in wandering around the ship at his leisure. Thelma had been easy enough to avoid, and Neinstein could do many things, but the probe couldn't control where Seth walked or what he ate. The Christa seemed to want to aid the kids, regardless of Neinstein's wishes. Seth was glad that the Christa deemed chocolate cake at 0100 to be a reasonable request.

Harlan has mentioned gathering in one of the bunkrooms to discuss a plan for getting the probe off the ship, so Seth made his way back in that general direction, swiping a dollop of frosting and licking it off his finger as he continued on.

The boy rounded the corner when he heard a muffled sniffle. He followed the sound through the corridors and found T.J. sitting on the floor outside the girls' bunkroom, hugging her legs, and sobbing into her knees. While Seth didn't remember anything about his relationship with her when they were adults (Were they friends? Enemies?), he found that her crying upset him, and he wanted to help her.

"Hey, uh, you okay?" he wondered.

T.J. looked up at him and hastily wiped her eyes. "I will be fine, thank you very much."

Seth frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Liar. People don't cry for no reason."

"Well maybe I do," she stubbornly fired back.

He took a seat next to her and held out his plate, offering, "Want some of my cake?"

"No, thank you. And, I might add, eating that with your hands is utterly barbaric."

Seth shrugged, scooped up a portion, and took a large bite. "Suit yourself," he said with his mouth full.

T.J. shook her head at him but had more important worries than the boy's poor etiquette. "I just want to go home," she whispered mournfully.

"Homesick, huh?"

She nodded. "Yes. Aren't you?"

"A little, I guess. But don't you think it's kinda cool out here? I mean, we're STARDOGing around the universe in a real life spaceship!"

"It is not 'cool,' it is terrifying," T.J. declared.

"We're coming up with a plan to take back the ship if you want in. We're supposed to be meeting in a few minutes. We'll get Neinsteen—"

"Stein."

"Whatever. We'll get the probe off the ship, and then it'll be smooth sailing on the open space road."

"I wish I could believe that. I wish Father was here. He would know what to do." She looked up at Seth and winced at the sight of chocolate frosting smeared all over his chin. She gestured vaguely to his face. "You have a little something, on the corner of your mouth. Just there..."

Seth wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "Are you close with him? Your dad, I mean."

"My father is my best friend," T.J. confessed. "He teaches me a lot. We have fun. He takes me to museums and the theatre."

Seth frowned. "My dad and I fight all the time."

"That's how it is with my mum. She seems to think I can never do anything right." A pause and then, "Do you remember being an adult?"

Seth shook his head in the negative.

"I don't either. Harlan and Catalina don't seem to like me much. I don't want to end up like my mum. Will I be a horrible person like her when I grow up, do you think?" T.J. wondered.

Seth shook his head again. "Nah, I don't think so. I mean, I think you're okay. For a girl, or whatever. And you're, like, scary-smart which is kinda cool."

"You aren't so bad either. For a boy or whatever," she teased him with a small smile. "But what if...what if we're stuck like this? What if we're stuck as teenagers on this ship and forced to live out the rest of our lives under Neinstein's dictatorship?"

"You're scared."

"Terrified." T.J. stared at the floor. "Are you going to tease me about it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Cuz Space hates bullies. And cuz I'm scared too, Teej."

She wrinkled her nose in confusion.

"What? Are you gonna make fun of me?"

"No, certainly not. But you called me 'Teej.' I've never been called that before."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No, it's all right. It is just a bit odd to hear for the first time." She considered the nickname for a moment longer. "I think like it, actually. That is to say, I don't mind if you call me by that name."

"Oh. Okay. Cool." A pause. "Do you think we were friends in the past? I mean, in our future? I mean...when we're grown-ups, do we get along?"

T.J. smiled. "I cannot say for certain. But I hope so. It would appear we are making a substantial amount of progress in that direction now, wouldn't you say?"

Seth nodded. "Yeah."

"I've never had a friend my own age before," T.J. confessed.

"Well you do now. We gotta stick together, right?"

"She rolled her eyes. "More like we are already stuck together."

"Whatever. The point is, I'm here for you."

"And why is that? You are not obligated to be."

Seth shrugged. "I wanna help. And we're friends now, right?"

"Do you promise?"

He stuck his hand out with his little finger raised. "Pinky promise."

T.J. chuckled. "How ridiculous! How is a pinky promise more significant than a regular one?"

Seth shrugged. "I dunno. It just is. So how 'bout it? I help you, and you help me. Pinky promise."

T.J. cocked her head to the side in consideration before linking her pinky with his. "I accept your terms."

After T.J. and Seth had been turned back into adults and bid a much kinder Neinstein farewell, the crew gathered in the team room to go over what had happened. The adults managed to convince the kids they didn't remember much, but T.J. gave herself away when she surprised Catalina with her aim as she tossed a pillow in her direction and it ricocheted off her head, hit the wall, and landed perfectly in her hands. T.J. smirked and excused herself from the room while Harlan, Radu, and Cat looked on in disbelief.

Goddard grinned and followed T.J. into the corridor. "You've got good aim," he commented with a chuckle. "Cat didn't know what hit her."

T.J. smiled. "Thank you. I can give as good as I get, you know."

"Noted. So. You do remember some things from our time as children."

She nodded. "Not everything, of course. Some is a bit hazy, like I said. And you remember some things as well, then?"

"Yeah, I seem to remember the important stuff. You okay?"

"I'm still a little perplexed, but I will be fine, thank you."

"Because you know you can talk to me about anything, right? I'm here for you. Promise." He stuck out his pinky, and T.J.'s breath caught in her throat. "I said I remembered the important stuff."

"Goodness." She blushed. It seemed like they'd made that promise a lifetime ago. And even without having been aware of it, they had essentially been looking out for one another since they'd met at the Starcademy.

"How 'bout it, Teej? I help you, and you help me. Pinky promise."

She wrapped her pinky around his and smiled at him. "I accept your terms."