Chapter 2
After cleaning up the dinner dishes, Judy decided to turn in for the night and had no intention of apologizing to Don. He had made a point of staying out of her way, and as far as she was concerned, he was the one who should be apologizing to her. Her hands were full of her toiletries as she exited the lavatory and ran head first into Don. He caught her bottles before they fell and she muttered, "Excuse me. I'll take them now."
He held onto the items and stood his ground. "Is that all you have to say?" he asked.
"I am not apologizing, if that's what you're waiting for."
"Maybe I'm not looking for an apology, but I would like to know what was going on with you tonight."
"What was going on with me? You're the one who got into a fist fight!"
"And you're the one who was flirting!"
"Flirting? I was not flirting."
"More space pie… not even a little bit?" Don imitated. "What would you call that?"
"I was just being nice to him. After everything he's been through, I thought he would appreciate a little kindness."
"I'm as kind as the next guy, but I'm not into sharing my…"
"Sharing your what, Don," she interrupted. "Your woman?" She grabbed the bottles from his hands. "You're such a… a caveman!" she spit out and fled to her room.
Don watched her leave, incredulous at her attitude. 'Caveman! Where the hell did that come from?' Instead of going to bed, he climbed the ladder to the upper deck. Sitting in his pilot's chair always settled him down, but he found John sitting there staring out of the viewport. "John? You ok?" he asked.
"No." John glanced up at him. "How's your lip?"
Don had forgotten about his split lip. "Ah, it's fine. Thinking about the kids?"
"Yes. Hapgood hit a nerve with his talk of there being no gas stations out here in space."
Don sat in the seat across from his friend. "Look, John, none of us thought we would end up lost out here."
"But I knew it was a possibility. Even if we reach Alpha Centauri, they'll still be growing up alone. I should have left them with Maureen's sister, Colleen. She practically raised Judy until we moved to Houston."
"And break up the family? John, the purpose of this mission was… is… for a family to colonize Alpha Prime."
"At what price, Don… Penny and Will's future happiness? Judy has you… who will Penny have?"
"The plan was for other families to follow us."
"Have you thought about what would happen to your own children, Don? It's one thing for a man – alone – like Hapgood, to explore space to satisfy his own curiosity, but would you want your own children to be raised in a space ship or on a God-forsaken planet like this one?"
Don couldn't reply right away. He had occasionally worried about what would happen to Penny and Will if they became adults while stranded in space, but he hadn't thought about his own children. He had to answer honestly. "No, John, I wouldn't."
"That's what I thought."
Don was lost in images of his own children… His and Judy's… A blond, green eyed sweetheart sitting in grandpa's lap… A brown haired, blue eyed hellion sticking his tongue out at Dr. Smith… He smiled at that one and came back to reality. "Look, John… we are where we are… The only thing we can do is take each day as it comes and pray that we'll get where we need to be – one way or another. I mean, we've been doing all right up to this point. We've got to keep believing that we'll make it to Alpha Centauri and that other families will follow. Judy and I are counting on that…"
"You mean to tell me that you and Judy are willing to wait until we reach Alpha Centauri to get married?"
"Well, as of right now, yeah…"
"What if things don't change?"
"We'll deal with it…"
"You'll deal with it," John whispered, more to himself than Don. "Ah, the enthusiasm of youth," he said with a sad smile.
Don laughed. "You're not a grandpa – yet."
John gave him a teasingly stern look. "And it better stay that way for a long, long time."
Don turned serious. "Well, if things stay the way they are tonight – it may never happen."
"Trouble?" John asked, concerned.
Don shrugged. "I guess I should apologize to her."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but yes, you should – whether you're right or wrong."
"Is that advice from my friend, Judy's father, or the mission commander?"
"That's advice from a married man… who adores his wife…"
When Maureen poured the coffee for John and Don, she noted that both men were rather somber that morning. She knew John was still disappointed about Hapgood not taking the children, she, however, was relieved. When Judy came to the table, she gave them all a general 'good morning,' but didn't look at Don at all.
Don rose and took the coffee pot from Maureen and poured a mug for Judy. He handed it to her rather sheepishly and said, "Accept a cup from a Neanderthal?"
"Only if you're not going to drag me to your cave by the hair," she replied.
He chuckled and held up two fingers. "Promise… scouts honor."
She took the cup and added, "By the way… I'm sorry, too."
Maureen gave a welcome sigh. Things were back to 'normal,' and she was happy for it. She caught John's eye and smiled, and he nodded in agreement.
'Normal' lasted for about thirty minutes. As Don and John were setting up the drill, they lost their grip and it hit Mr. Hapgood in the back, causing him pain, and concern that he wouldn't make his lift off time that evening. Guilt that he owed the Robinsons for taking such good care of him weighed on his mind. Not only did he recover in time for lift-off, he agreed to take Will and Penny with him. "It's a real good thing you're doing, Hap," Don said and shook his hand.
As Judy and Don walked back to the ship, she clasped his hand and stopped him when they were half-way to the Jupiter. "Don? That was a kind thing for you to say to Mr. Hapgood."
"Well, I'm not such a bad guy, you know. Besides, he really is doing the right thing."
"I'm going to miss them…"
"Yeah, me too."
Dr. Smith was beside himself and tried to talk Hapgood into taking him back to Earth instead of the children, but Hapgood could not be swayed, so Smith enacted his secondary plan. He knew the children didn't want to leave. It wouldn't take much to manipulate them into running away before launch time, and he would be standing outside Travelin' Man ready to take their place.
As Dr. Smith predicted, Penny and Will were nowhere to be found when it was time to leave. As John, Maureen and Don searched for them, Judy tried to talk Hapgood into waiting. "Mr. Hapgood, we're still looking for the children… If you could just hold up a little bit longer."
"Look, Honey, if I delay past my launch time, I may never get off this piece of real estate," Hapgood responded.
"But, Mr. Hapgood, they're bound to find them."
"I'm real sorry, but if I don't have passengers aboard in twenty minutes, it's gonna have to be a solo flight."
Judy stopped and tried to think of a way to buy more time. She tried another tactic. "Mr. Hapgood – Jim – there will be another window for your lift-off sooner or later. Staying with us awhile longer wouldn't be all that terrible, would it?"
"Well, now, sugar, I don't know. I've been thinking about getting my own piece of real estate back home."
"You can still do that… You've been gone for fifteen years… what's a few more months? And you can share our real estate right here until the time is right to launch again."
"Well, now… you do have a point there," he answered. Then he mumbled, mostly to himself, "And what's the good of settling down when you have nobody to settle with…"
Hapgood jumped when he heard pounding on the hatch. "What the…"
Smith was waving in his window. "Mr. Hapgood. I'm here to take the children's place."
Hapgood smirked at the man. Maybe Judy was right. A few more months with the Robinsons wouldn't be so bad. Who knew if he had any family left back home anyway? He certainly had no woman to share his life with. All he knew was that he felt more at home here than he had anywhere else in space.
Hapgood shut down the engines. "All right. You win, little darlin'. I never could say 'no' to a beautiful woman."
And now onto the AU…
