This is my 70th fanfic and the first I've written since becoming a mom. Hope you enjoy!


Looking out the window, I watch the remnants of Earth drift through space.

I can't believe I'm in space again! My time on Maveth was traumatic enough—struggling to find food, fearing for my life, wondering if I'd ever get home again.

Finding food isn't a problem now, but, in every other way, my current situation is much worse.

Enslaved. Forced to watch humans and inhumans being exploited and murdered. Deprived of my hearing unless it serves the man who stole it from me.

I'm surrounded by people and yet there's nothing but silence. I've never felt more alone.

As a child, I would watch "Doctor Who" and imagine how exciting it would be to travel in space and time. Now that I've actually undertaken such a trip, all I want is to go home and see Fitz again.

What is Fitz doing now? Is he looking up at the same stars and thinking about me?

No, Fitz has lived his life. Did he spend the rest of his days looking for me? He found me in space once, but now we're separated by time as well. As brilliant as Fitz is, I can't expect him to have figured out time travel.

Did he die alone, feeling like a failure?

Or did he eventually move on?

Maybe he found another woman to love, a woman who wasn't constantly being whisked away by monoliths. Maybe they had children together. I can imagine a little girl with Fitz's curls. Fitz would be a wonderful father, far better than the one he had. He'd teach his daughter about science and take her to the zoo to see monkeys and build her the most amazing toys...

What's worse—Fitz spending the rest of his life miserable, loving me until his last breath? Or Fitz finding happiness with someone else?

If I could choose, I'd want Fitz to be happy. He's a good man and he deserves a good life. Even if...even if it's not with me.

I feel the tears threatening to spill out of my eyes.

Don't cry!

If I cry, I might ruin my make-up. If I'm no longer the picture of perfection Kasius demands, he'll kill me.

In order to survive, I have to follow his rules...until an opportunity for escape presents itself.

I wish there was a way to find out what happened to Fitz. But how would I gain access to historical records? And what are the odds Fitz would be in any such records?

I might never know Fitz's fate. He would never know mine.

Fitz was right—we were cursed. But why? What had we done to deserve such cruelty from the universe?

I'm being ridiculous. The universe doesn't care that Fitz and I are good people who love each other. It's indifferent to our-

Someone touches my arm. I hear Kasius ask if something is wrong.

Kasius must have noticed that I was distracted! Is he about to reprimand me...or worse?

I turn around to offer an apology and my heart stops.

No.

It can't be.

Fitz!

How is he here?

Every cell in my body is screaming at me to hold him, to kiss him, to tell him how much I've missed him.

But Kasius is watching. If he suspects that Fitz and I know each other…

I imagine those awful silver spheres heading for Fitz. His lifeless body falling to the floor.

Stay calm.

Don't react.

Trust that, sooner or later, Fitz and I will find a way to have a private conversation. We can tell each other everything that's happened since we last saw each other.

I can ask him to marry me.

I'm confident he'll say yes.

It seems impossible that he's found me here, on a space station in the future. Then again, when Fitz and I are together, nothing seems impossible.

Maybe we're not cursed after all.