A/N: Thanks to daxx for the beta!


There is always one last thing that needs to be done, thought Emma as she skipped up the stairs of the Marine Biology building at the Manoa campus of the University of Hawai'i. She punched-in the access code and entered the research lab where she worked. A blast of loud music greeted her ears. Her friend Elsa sat hunched over a microscope. It was only seven in the morning, but Emma was not surprised to find her already at work. Researchers worked odd hours, and Elsa was an early bird, while Emma herself was more of a night-owl.

Emma and two other people from the MEMAS research group (short for Marine Ecology, Metagenomics, and Sustainability) were heading out on a field trip up north that morning to collect water and soil samples for their research projects. Emma was hoping that this expedition would help her generate enough data to complete her thesis and get a first-author publication to boot. Publish or Perish was a motto drilled into the head of every science graduate student early and often. Emma had already co-authored a paper, but with a first-author publication, her chances of getting into a top-ranked PhD program would be very high.

Each floor of the Marine Biology building had an open floor plan, which was dedicated to a different sub-specialty of research. This was done to encourage collaboration and sharing of equipment between the various research teams occupying the lab space. There were currently five lab groups in the second floor where Emma worked. Margaret "Meg" No'olan was Emma's thesis advisor. Meg and her husband David No'olan, both tenured professors in the Marine Biology program, team-taught courses and had several inter-connected research projects on fresh- and salt-water fauna and sustainability. They were popularly known as the Polynesian Snow White and Prince Charming. Dr. Regina Mills was making a name for herself in the field of metagenomics. She occasionally sent her team members to the Palmer Research Station in Antarctica. Two more lab groups, headed by Dr. Lilith Mal, and Dr. Archie Hopper, completed the core members of the MEMAS group.

"Hey! Elsa," Emma raised her voice to make herself heard over the music as she walked over to her work station.

"Oh… Hi, Emma! I didn't expect to see you here this morning." Elsa turned to look at Emma, and lowered the volume of the music using a remote. "What're you doing here?"

"I forgot to take the extra sample canisters! I came to grab them. Tiana's waiting for me in the car," explained Emma.

"What about Killian?"

"He's going to meet us at the field site," said Emma. "Once we get there, we're going to shift most of the supplies to his truck."

"I bet he's triple lined the back of his vehicle with bubble wrap in preparation," joked Elsa. The girls laughed.

Killian Jones and Elsa Dell were post doctoral research scientists working for Dr. Mills. Killian and Elsa had returned a few months previously from long stints at Palmer. They were both having a little trouble adjusting to life back in the "real world", even an island paradise like Hawai'i. Elsa had evidently decided that blasting musical numbers on the lab stereo was the best therapy for Reentry Syndrome; Killian's obsession with his truck was perhaps his coping mechanism.

An incoming text message beep sounded, and Emma pulled her phone from her pocket to read the text. She typed out a quick reply.

"Got to go! Have fun with the undergrads." Emma picked up the canisters she had come for.

"Most of them are too scared to talk to me," said Elsa, a little forlorn.

"You do have this aloof ice-princess look going for you!" Emma grinned.

Elsa smiled ruefully. "I'll need to work on that."

"See ya in a couple of days!" Emma waved goodbye as she headed out. Elsa waved back and bent over the microscope again.

As Emma exited the room, she heard the volume of the music go up. Smiling to herself, she walked down to the waiting car. It had been surprisingly effortless to fall into an easy camaraderie with Elsa, despite the nearly 10 year age difference between them. Elsa acted as an amazing soundboard and was helping Emma design experiments for the final stage of her thesis. They had taken to hanging out in their spare time as well. All in all, Elsa was proving to be an invaluable friend and mentor.

"Did you get them?" asked Tiana, as Emma got into the driver's seat of the waiting Austin.

Tiana was a petite woman with a freckled face and reddish blonde hair gathered up in a high ponytail. Like Emma, Tiana was Island born and bred. Being local created an unspoken bond between the two.

"Yup!" Emma strapped herself in and handed over the canisters to Tiana, and pulled away from the parking lot onto the road.

"Do you want me to try and squeeze them back there?" Tiana turned around to check if there was any space in the back seat.

"There's not much space with all the stuff we've stashed there," said Emma. "Can you stow them at your feet for now?"

Tiana did as Emma suggested and added, "Are you sure your tiny little car can make it safely over the H1, Emma?"

"Hey! Don't you dare say anything about my Bug—she's been my faithful companion for four years," Emma remonstrated.

"I just hope your faithful companion is also a sturdy one," said Tiana, with a dramatic sigh. "I'm going to be the one driving her back tonight!" She made air-quotes around the word "her".

"Unless you can fly us there and back, Tiana, this is all we got." Emma gave a pointed look at the other girl. Tiana laughed and stuck her tongue out at Emma.

Tiana was to return back to Manoa that evening with the day's collection. She would begin processing them and get the remainder stored securely in the -80°C freezer. This gave Emma and Killian one more day for sample collection without having to worry about loss of sample integrity.

Emma turned the radio on. Iz's rendition of Somewhere over the Rainbow was playing on KTUH 90.3 FM. The two girls started variously humming and singing along.

It took Emma about an hour and a half to drive to the field site, which was a state park close to Waimea Valley up north. The park had some lovely hiking trails with quite a few natural springs. It was seldom as crowded as the more popular hiking spots on the Island, and made for an ideal location for sample collection.

The security guard manning the park entrance waved them in once Emma handed her their official UH permit for camping and data collection. They located Killian's vehicle easily enough. It was a vintage truck with a license plate that read "JOLLY ROGER". The parking stall by his truck was empty, and Killian stepped out of his vehicle as Emma pulled into the spot. He had dark glasses pushed up on his head, and was attired in a plain black t-shirt and dark blue shorts. It gave him the appearance of being just shy of too lanky. He was of a type commonly termed "Black Irish" in America—dark haired, and with blue eyes that looked like they were "put in with a sooty finger". He was a bit of a flirt, and most undergrads in their building (and quite a few graduate students) drooled over him.

"How can you wear that t-shirt on a day like this?" demanded Tiana as she and Emma stepped out of the car and walked up to Killian. "You're gonna roast like a kalua pig!"

"Don't worry about me, darling. I sweat after-shave," Killian replied with a wink.

Tiana let out a bell like laugh, and punched his arm lightly with easy familiarity. Tiana had done a minor stint at Palmer the year before, and was the only member of the lab who had known Killian and Elsa before they came down. Emma suddenly felt a little conscious of being an interloper. Why had thought it a good idea to tag along on a field trip with people she had never gone with before?

Emma, Killian, and Tiana worked quickly to transfer most of the supplies from Emma's car onto Killian's truck. Killian hadn't exactly triple lined the inside of his truck in bubble wrap, but he had spread a thick rug on the floor. Emma bit her lip to hide her amused smile at Elsa's near-accurate prediction. The only items they did not put away in Killian's truck were the supplies they would need for the day.

"Let's get going, shall we?"

"Gimme a minute," said Emma, as she tied her hair up in a bun, and shoved a baseball cap on her head. "I'm all set."

The three of them set off up the path of the first trail.

They reached their first stopping point in about half an hour. It was a small pool fed by a trickling waterfall. A familiar sign warning people of possible Leptospira in the water stood in front of it. After donning protective gloves and boots, the trio set to work. As there weren't many hikers about, they were able to work in peace. They took readings of water temperature, color, clarity, and so forth, and collected water and soil samples from different depths and distance from the edge of the pool. The samples were then placed in labeled plastic vials containing special transport media.

Emma was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly everything was going, considering this was the first time she had worked with Tiana or Killian. Besides, she was learning some new tips and tricks from them. I should have done this a long time ago, thought Emma. She had only ever gone on field visits with her former boyfriend Neal. They had broken up early summer, and Emma had perforce to find new partners in crime for field visits.

"Alright, there, Swan?"

Emma came to with a start, and realized that Killian had been attempting to hand her some vials.

"Yeah, fine," she mumbled and took the vials from Killian, gathering her thoughts to focus on the task at hand.

It was close to five by the time they were done. Apart from a short break for lunch, they had worked steadily, moving to a few more collection spots before deciding they were done for the day. Packing everything up, they proceeded downhill. Emma felt tired, but she was still hyped up from the day's exertions.

They transferred the day's haul into a special cooler lined with ice packs in the back seat of Emma's car and secured it down with straps. It was about 5:30 PM before they got done, and as Tiana had more work to do once she got back to the lab, she drove off with a brief goodbye. Emma stood looking after her for a moment before turning around and walking back to where Killian was standing.