"So Sawyer, where are you from?" It was late at night and they were finally relaxing after a long day of training before going to sleep. They've been working together for three weeks now.

"Originally Nebraska, but I live in California now."

"Ooh, California, fancy." Alex joked.

Maggie chuckled, "not really that fancy… You?"

It was Alex's turn to chuckle, "California."

"You goof. What part?"

"I was born and raised in Midvale, but moved to National City with my sister. When I'm not on tour, I work at the base there at the edge of the city."

Maggie sat up straight on her cot to look at Alex. "No… Shit, really? I live in National City too! I've worked at that base for years. How have we never run into each other?"

Alex sat up with a disbelieving look. "That's weird and oddly coincidental."

"What are the odds of that happening." Maggie scoffed.

"Well…" Alex started and Maggie held up a finger, "don't you say the odds Danvers, it's a saying and figure of speech…" "Ugh, such a killjoy!" Alex said with exasperation. Maggie flopped back down on the cop.

"Such a nerd," Maggie said and laid back down. "Maybe your job when you get back is some lab techie scientist where you stare into a microscope." She chuckled tiredly but when Alex didn't respond like she usually did, Maggie picked her head up and looked over to her.

Alex had an unreadable expression on her face, but Maggie could almost sense a longing and sadness to her demeanor. "Danvers?" Maggie waited for a response… Alex kept staring at the ceiling. "Alex?..." She was uncharacteristically silent, not following up with her usual quip at Maggie's guesses. Something had switched and Maggie could tell as clear as day, but she didn't know her well enough at this point to know why.

Instead of answering Maggie, Alex looked at her watch and sighed. She sat up and started putting her shoes on. "Grab your coat." Alex said to her. "Wait, what? Alex, it's cold outside, and I'm exhausted." Alex picked Maggie's coat up and tossed it to her before exiting the tent.

Maggie grumbled pulling her boots on and her coat. It was the end of November and although it was still relatively warm out at night, it was quickly becoming much colder than the normal desert temperature during the day.

As soon as Maggie stepped out and spotted Alex, Alex moved to go around the back of the tent. Maggie followed and found her sitting on a large rock looking out over the desert and to the plateaus. Plopping down beside her, Maggie waited until Alex was ready to speak.

"I know you've been out here before at night, but have you ever taken a second to breathe it all in?" Alex asked turning to look at her. "Once or twice. Not nearly enough though. Why?"

Their mobile site where they were at turned almost completely dark at night, so there were no extra lights. Not even a nearby light from a town could be seen.

Alex nodded her head over towards the open land. "People often forget to be really human out here. It's nice to come out sometimes when everything is quiet and calm… Notice the way the moon shines? It lights everything up and everything just seems to have a natural glow to it." And Alex was right. The desert was rather beautiful at night. There weren't many rocks and even fewer bushes, but everything was calm and peaceful.

"Mmmm it is nice." Maggie hummed. "But that's not the best part." Alex said. Maggie waited for her to explain further, but instead, Alex just pointed up towards the sky. Maggie hesitated for a second but looked up. And it was absolutely stunning.

The last time she had seen stars like that was a very, very long time ago back in Nebraska. "No one ever bothers to look up at night… The most beautiful light show happens every night, and people don't take the time to look and appreciate it." Alex sighs again. "... Good night, Maggie." Alex said softly and got up, going back into the tent.

Maggie got up and followed her, still really confused by what was really going on. She took another look at the sky and walked back in.

"Danvers, did I say something wrong?" Alex already had her boots and coat off and was getting back into bed. "You didn't say anything wrong, Sawyer. I just didn't want another person to miss that. With what we do and what we see, it's nice to have that moment of silence."

Maggie crossed her arms, unrelenting. "And I really appreciate that, I really do, but something else is clearly going on in that head of yours. I made a comment about a potential civilian job and you went silent on me."

Alex laid back and looked at the "ceiling" again. She knew the night sky so well that she could see it when she looked up at the cloth over their heads. Maggie sat down and was about to say something else when Alex spoke up. "My mom has her PhD in bioengineering and a specialty in astrobiology… My dad was an astronomer with a PhD as well…" Maggie didn't miss the way she said her mom in present tense and her father in past tense, but stayed quiet allowing Alex to continue.

"He taught me everything I know about the stars. We'd go out at night, ever since I can remember. It's just something that was always ours… We'd do science projects together and other fun things. I wanted to be just like him when I grew up…" Alex swallowed, trying to keep her voice even and emotions saddled.

"I wanted to work in a lab like him with telescopes and microscopes and test tubes and all that." Alex closed her eyes and her eyebrows scrunched together under the weight of keeping her emotions at bay.

"Tomorrow is ten years since he died."

"Oh, Danvers, I'm sorry." Maggie said. There wasn't really anything else for her to say.

"Night, Sawyer." Alex said and turned over away from Maggie. She turned her light out and Maggie let it go. Alex had trusted her enough to share a piece of her personal life with her when she didn't have to. She wasn't going to push anymore. She turned off her light and went to sleep as well.