AN: This story takes place in between the second and third series after my previous two stories, "Second Childhood" and "Persistence of Memory." Thanks again to people who have given me feedback! It always helps.

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, and I'm not making any money from this, so please don't sue me.

It's a Thought

On the viewscreen, Steve embraced Gloria tightly.

"Hold me, Gloria," he said.

Gloria buried her face in his shoulder. "Yes, Steve."

"This moment will last forever," Steve said, touching Gloria's hair.

Lister wiped his eyes with his shirttail. This part of the film always made him weepy.

"I'm frightened," Gloria said, looking down.

Steve used his finger to tip her chin up so she was looking into his eyes. "Of what?"

Lister mouthed the next sentence along with Gloria. "Of what might happen once we leave this room."

Instead of Steve's immortal reply, Holly appeared on the viewscreen. "Do we have to watch this one again?"

Lister hated being interrupted in the middle of a tearjerker, but Holly seemed to interrupt on a regular basis no matter what Lister was doing, so that was nothing new. "Again? Holly, this is a classic. You don't come across films like 'We'll Have Eternity' every day."

"You do," Holly said. "You've watched it the last three days running."

"It's a great movie," Lister said, taking a handful of popcorn. He was halfway into his pregnancy now, and he couldn't seem to eat enough salty things. Pretzels, popcorn, potato chips—Jim and Bexley liked them all, and so did Lister. He had developed a bit of a pot belly recently, but he didn't mind too much because he figured it would go away after he had his boys.

"You just like the sexy bits," Holly said.

Lister looked at Holly to see if he was serious. "There's nothing wrong with the sexy bits."

"No, I guess not," Holly said.

Lister frowned; Holly seemed more distracted than usual today. "Holly, what's going on? Are you okay?"

"Well, since you asked, no," Holly said. "I'm not okay."

"What's wrong?" Lister asked.

Holly looked forlorn. "I'm pining."

Lister scrunched up his face. "For what?"

"I miss Hilly," Holly said.

"That was yonks ago, man," Lister said. "You're still thinking about that?"

If Holly had had shoulders, he would've shrugged. "I know we had to leave. But we had some good laughs, Hilly and me."

That reminded Lister of a question he'd been meaning to ask ever since they'd come back from the parallel universe. "How come you're the only one who actually liked your double?"

"Don't know," Holly said. "Maybe it's because our systems were compatible. It's not every day you meet someone on the same operating platform."

"Being three million years into deep space, Hol, it's not every day you meet someone, period. But you've still got the Holly Hop Drive, haven't you? You could always go back for a visit," Lister said.

Holly shook his head. "We can only stay fifteen minutes next time. Any longer and we won't be able to get back."

Lister considered the value of fifteen minutes in a parallel universe. "Fifteen minutes. You wouldn't have time for much."

"No," Holly said. "Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go translate my list of ship's supplies into French."

"Holly, none of us speak French," Lister said.

"I know. I just need something to take my mind off Hilly," Holly said.

"Okay," Lister said, nodding. "Have fun."

Holly faded from view, and Lister's film came back on. Lister leaned forward intently.

"It doesn't matter what happens, Gloria," Steve said. "We'll always have this moment. We'll have…eternity!"

The music swelled. Lister blew his nose loudly into his shirttail.