A/N: Dedicated to TheSingingPterodactyl!
A bit of Memily! Takes place post-series 5 finale. Because I watch and read so much Conby, Jecker, Stephen, and just series 1-3 in general, I always feel like I'm neglecting 4 and 5. Primarily Matt and Emily. So this is my tribute to a wonderful couple that can sometimes get lost in the mix of the big ships! Enjoy! Please review. :)
Emily walked through the ARC, coffee in hand. She'd grown quite fond of coffee during her time in the twenty-first century, though she imagined her friends back home would disapprove. Sighing, she noticed with near amusement that she still called the 1800's "home". It wasn't that bad, she assumed, because she'd heard Matt slip more than once and refer to the future by the same name. Everyone else just threw the word around, when what they really meant was "house". Of course, she'd done the same thing before she started traveling through anomalies, so it was understandable that the others would. She tried not to mind, repeating over and over to herself that, once, she was just as bad as they are, but it got a little annoying at times. She would flinch to herself at the mention of the word "home," and no one would notice. Well, no one except Matt. They'd had several discussions about it, both nodding along and agreeing with how frustrating the other found it, but neither of them was the type to mention it to any of the others. She supposed it would simply become an inside joke in time.
It didn't take long to memorize the entire structure of the ARC, and she had, but occasionally she'd still find herself taking a walk around to familiarize herself with it. Oftentimes it ended when she suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and took a moment to get her bearings, then went on to have a common, everyday conversation with whoever was in sight. But that wasn't the case today. Her coffee was nearly cold by now, but she continued walking along, caught up in a world of her own. She thought mostly about her past, and what her friends and family back home would say if they could see her now. However she thought they'd react, she didn't let it bother her. She's in this time now, and those people are long gone. Her friends here thought very highly of her, and that's all that mattered. Or so she told herself.
Matt knew everything about her, of course, but she kept this one bit secret from him. A girl has to have some privacy, right? She never stopped for a moment to think that maybe Matt had the same problem, or maybe he'd already figured out that they shared it.
Matt stretched his legs in the halls of the ARC, headed nowhere in particular, just lost in thought. He seemed to be doing that more and more lately, and he didn't know why. He was as happy as ever, with a decent home that didn't threaten his life every few minutes. He even had a very steady girlfriend with whom he was madly in love, so why should he need all this time to think? Maybe it was because now, for what felt like the first time in his life, he actually had time to think. Or maybe it was because he had a lot riding on him, since he was the team leader. It was a big responsibility to him, and he took it quite seriously, as he did with everything. It was even bigger in his life now that his mission was over, but at the same time, he had been doing everything he could to develop relationships with members of the team, friendship or otherwise. In his youth, he never had the time for things like that, because of his father's pushing and training. Now he did have the time, and the freedom, and he made sure he used it.
Especially for Emily. She was having a much more difficult time settling down in this time period. Of course, that was to be expected, he realized. His whole life had been centered around coming and living here, but she was just an innocent person who was thrust into the situation, and not at all ready. When he was sent to this time, he thought he was fully prepared, but even with all that behind him he found it difficult. He had no idea what it must have been, and still is, like for her. She was so delicate and yet so strong, able to keep her troubles hidden and yet very real. Her natural innocence throughout all she's been through is what made him love her.
She turned a corner to see Matt walking in her general direction. Fortunately, this broke her out of her trance, or else she would have walked straight into him.
"Hey." He smiled.
"Hey." She returned the gesture and took a drink of her coffee as they both stopped walking.
"Mm, smells good." He flirted, in his own way.
"You want some?" She offered genuinely.
"Sure, what's in it?" He took the cup.
"Just plain." She added with a chuckle, "What else do I normally drink?"
He snickered and took a sip, immediately clearing his throat. "It's cold!" He scrunched his eyes and quickly handed it back to her.
She laughed and corrected him. "It's lukewarm."
"That's coffee language for 'cold'." He corrected back.
She chuckled again. "I suppose it is."
"Really, though. That does smell good. You're making me want some."
"There's a pot in the common room, I believe! It should still have some left over, unless Connor's gotten into another one of his moods."
"Oh, please tell me he hasn't!"
"I doubt he has." She answered with a smile. "He was with Abby the last time I saw him, and she tends to keep him sane."
"Good!" He tried to hide his overwhelming relief. "We don't need another one of those… what would you call them?"
"Incidents?"
"Yeah, that works about as well as anything else. I don't think I'd want to know what you call a mood where you drink all the coffee in sight, then become an amateur acrobat and fling yourself off every wall in the ARC."
"Not to mention talking while doing it."
"Oh, yeah, what was he saying? Something about how Abby's hair used to look like a hedgehog, and he always wanted to pet it?"
"And adopt it." They laughed together, troubles completely forgotten for the moment.
But, unfortunately, that didn't last long, because the anomaly alert sounded and lights began flashing in the halls.
They smiled reluctantly and began walking to the control room as Matt offered his arm.
Emily took it.
The anomaly site wasn't far from the ARC, and they arrived within minutes. With no sign of an incursion, coffee-less Connor quickly locked it and took out his dating calculator. His eyes grew slightly wider as he looked at the date.
"It leads to the 1800's." He announced. "1882, actually."
Everyone in the group tried to look as inconspicuous as possible while staring at Emily.
"Connor, are you sure?" Jess asked over the intercom.
"Yep, that's what it says…" He answered, unsure whether it was a good or bad thing.
"Emily?" Becker asked expectantly.
"Why is everyone looking at me?" Emily asked matter-of-factly.
Matt knew her answer, as did everyone else in the group. They just had to make sure.
"I'm happy where I am." She smiled and turned to Matt, who proceeded to peck her on the lips.
No one on the team was surprised.