During the course of his life Joshua had often had the misfortune to be in the position to have to do may unpleasant things. When he was feeling particularly morose, he mused that it seemed to be his lot in life. As he walked down the street toward Agent Evans home, he knew that, once again, someone was about to be deeply hurt, as Lisa had asked him to inform Tyler's mother of his death in person.

As the humans said, this was going to suck.

With the vast majority of humanity blissed in to complacency, he had been shocked to find Agent Evans still placing calls to Tyler's cell phone, which he had lifted from the boy's clothes after Anna ordered him to take his body down to storage. Somehow, she had avoided the influence of the bliss and Lisa had set him on a mission.

It had taken him some time to make his way to Agent Evans's home, as he'd never ventured beyond the Visitor Center on Earth, but eventually, he found himself standing on her front stoop, wearing strangely rough human clothing. He contemplated the barrier for a moment before pressing the lone button that was placed nearby. From within the house, he heard a chime.

Mere moments later, the door was yanked open to reveal a flustered looking Agent Evans, whose expectant face fell when she saw it was him standing there.

Clearly, she had been hoping to find Tyler instead.

"Joshua," she greeted him in a surprised tone, waving a hand to usher him in. As she closed the door, she blurted the question he could practically see in her eyes. "Is Tyler all right? I haven't been able to get in touch with him since before…."

She trailed off, waving a hand. He knew what she meant. Since before the majority of the human race had been blissed.

From another room, a tall, blond man appeared , crossing to stand by Agent Evans's side. Clearly, he'd heard her greeting and said, "Good to meet you, Joshua."

The doctor recognized his voice and was relieved to have another member of the Fifth Column present as he broke his news. "You as well, Father Landry," Joshua said, then took a breath, bracing himself. He wasn't entirely sure how to say what he had to say. Growing up as he had, tact was not something he was overly familiar with. "Diana is dead, as is Ryan. Anna has imprisoned Lisa and skinned her newly birthed heir in Lisa's likeness. She was sent to Tyler to procure his genetic material and, once she was done…I'm sorry. Tyler was killed."

For a moment, she simply stared at him as though he was speaking a language she didn't understand. Then she staggered a halting step backwards. Father Jack caught her arm as she shook her head, eyes still locked on Joshua as she said, "No, no, no…."

Her knees gave out and it was only Jack's hold on her that kept her from collapsing. As her mouth opened, no sound came out, her pain stealing her breath and voice. She shook, tears escaping her eyes and she twisted in Jack's grip, beyond consolation.

The priest lowered himself to his knees, settling Erica down gently, murmuring wordless sounds of compassion and comfort. Joshua found himself at a loss, not knowing how to deal with this kind of expressed grief. He had no comparable loss, the closest probably being David's death at his own hands. He had wanted to cry for his brave friend, to mourn him even as he respected his sacrifice, but David had been his friend, not his child.

He wanted to run, to flee from the pain and grief that he felt he had no business witnessing. He had brought the news that caused her mourning, could not begin to know how to soothe her, so his presence must have been intrusive, unwanted.

But he couldn't bring himself to leave.

Instead he stood there, watching on of his few allies cry into the chest of another, her wrenching wails muffled in his shirt. Jack was holding her in the protective circle of his arms, rocking her back and forth. Occasionally, she'd flail a bit, hands grabbing his sleeves or weakly hitting his chest or back.

She sounded…broken.

The sort of broken only time would heal.

After Anna (or rather Amy, as they later discovered) blissed humanity, Erica had a few moments of stark fear when Jack didn't respond, but slowly, as she'd stood there embracing him and murmuring his name, he'd shaken free of the thrall, blinking at her in confusion. He was proof that humans could turn away from bliss, as V's like Ryan, Joshua and Lisa had.

He was a literal embodiment of hope for her and the others at Project Aires, who then knew there was a chance of breaking people from Anna's hold and recruiting more to the fight.

Because the fight was coming.

That first night, Erica had taken Jack back with her to her home and they'd basically passed out on the couch. They'd been woken by a knock on the door and found a very uncomfortable looking Joshua there.

It was then that Erica learned her son was dead, killed by Anna's progeny, a daughter who wore Lisa's face. She hadn't heard much after that, but later Jack told her Joshua had left quickly, saying something about working on a plan to free the real Lisa from a brig on the ship.

What hurt the most was the fact that she couldn't strike back at Anna, couldn't act out in any manner that would reveal the fact that she hadn't been turned into one of the shiny, happy people like 99% of the planet's population.

Her grief had to be private and, after a few, lost days of inconsolable despair, she raged. She shouted and screamed until her throat was raw, sometimes throwing things around. Through it all, Jack didn't waver. He held her when she needed to be held, made sure she ate and got to the bunker Aires was working out of.

Little by little, she pulled herself out of her haze of grief, taking note of the things around them.

Anna's ships had landed at the Concordia sites, hanging there so ominously. It was almost worse that they had yet to make any other obvious move, which caused the few remaining unblessed humans to grow edgier and edgier as the days wore on. More and V's came down on shuttles and interacted with the blissed humans…it was like they were scouting for something.

On a more pleasant note, Sidney, in all his paranoid, compulsive note taking glory, shook off the blissing fairly quickly and had contacted Jack (during Erica's mourning time-out), who connected him with Aires. By the time Erica was feeling up to going back to the bunker, Sid was driving the more buttoned up staff there to the point of insanity.

"It's not that he's annoying," Nikki Watts, a bio-chemical researcher who'd been with Aires for a few months, had said, "He just has more energy than a squirrel on meth."

Also good was the fact that Joshua had managed to get himself and the real Lisa off of the mother ship. Tremont had nearly blown a blood vessel at the thought of being able to grill them for information and Erica thought he'd seemed almost disappointed that they'd been willing to share anything they knew.

But it wasn't long after that when the attacks abductions started. Large groups of blissed people just up and vanishing. In an attempt to safeguard assets, all personnel moved into the shielded bunker, which came equip with more than enough dorm style rooms.

Like everyone else at Project Aires, they fell into a fairly steady routine. Erica spent more of her time in strategy meetings while Jack had found a niche with some of the soldiers on base, who had been happy to have a chaplain, even one who wasn't technically a priest any longer.

Looking around the windowless cell, it's two government issue twin beds and foot lockers, Erica just shook her head. She wondered if they had been deluding themselves this whole time, playing at being rebels and now were facing the reality of what was sure to be a nasty conflict.

An hour later, Jack arrived, having helped mediate Sid's rooming situation. The scientist had been zipping around like a Tasmanian devil hopped up on crack and Red Bull and many of the Project Aires staff found that more than vaguely irritating. To the point where they didn't want to room with him. It took some negotiation, but a more tolerant airman had finally agreed to bunk with Sid.

To the vague disgruntlement of Chris and the surprise of Paul, Erica and Jack had claimed a little room for themselves. She assumed they were scandalized over the 'priest' thing, though it didn't really apply anymore. Jack hadn't been uncomfortable, but then again, he'd held her as she cried herself to sleep many times since Tyler's death.

They were comfortable with each other.

"How'd the Sid-Housing situation work out?" she asked Jack as he dropped onto his own bed and snorted.

"Airman Feehan finally agreed, as he works the radar station overnight, so there won't be much actual cohabitation," he told her, then gave her a look. "Did you neat dinner?"

She had a habit of forgetting the little things, like eating, when stressed.

"I did," she replied, "Did you?"

Jack nodded. "The mess was serving meatloaf. It was…interesting."

Wrinkling her nose, Erica snorted indelicately. "I particularly enjoyed the paste like potatoes."

He chuckled. "Vegetables should not come in powdered form."

She quirked a smile at him, then let herself just take a moment to enjoy the peace between them. Jack was sitting sideways on his bed, long legs hanging off the edge, shoulders and head propped up against the wall. He was wearing a pair of BDU pants and a regulation t-shirt and he looked at home in the uniform. The edge of the shirt had become rucked up a little and she could see a strip of skin above his belt, taut and lightly tanned despite spending most of his recent time indoors.

Last night she'd had a bad night and had wound up sharing Jack's cot. It was a good thing neither of them had any extra weight on them, because military issue cots were not made to hold two bodies comfortably. Somehow they managed.

She'd woken this morning with her head tucked under Jack's chin and one of her hands resting on his stomach, having wormed itself under his shirt as they slept. These days, sometimes it was a comfort to just touch another human being. As his breath puffed against her brow, Erica allowed her fingers to smooth over the tantalizing skin, stopping when his abs clenched.

She'd hit a ticklish spot.

It was early and, though he'd woke with a start, Jack didn't seem to be in any hurry to hop out of bed. Instead he laid there, still holding her in his arms, not mentioning the hand splayed across his lower belly. In a daring move, his fingertips brushed the skin at the small of her back and she sighed.

Little moments like that had been coming more and more often, even in these dire times. The connection they'd had since that spark arching across that crowded warehouse months ago (a lifetime ago). Clasped hands on a rooftop, shared secrets and support…all leading to something inevitable. Sure, there had been obstacles, not the least of which being the fact that he was a priest and she had taken a little side trip into self-destructive land, but through it all they had held on to that underlying sense of unity.

When he extended his hand toward her, she rose and clasped his fingers in her own, allowing him to pull her onto the bed beside him. She settled on her right hip, against his side with a sigh, resting her cheek against his shoulder. As she leaned into him, her left leg slid atop his and she let an arm slide around his waist. In turn, he hugged her closer and let his cheek brush the crown of her head.

Neither of them would mention the little caresses, the occasional brush of a kiss against a neck or back. For them, the emotional intimacy had taken root and, with each passing day, they came closer and closer to taking the next step.

When they did…Erica was fairly certain it would be one hell of a step.

"Lisa, it's time."

After more than a month in the swamp prison, Lisa was more than ready to be anywhere else. She was tired of being cold and damp and eating the strange, mush like food that appeared twice daily. Joshua had been her only visitor, sneaking down to see her in the evenings. Those visits had kept her sane. She didn't know how her grandmother had survived for so long.

Sneaking her off of the ship was not something they could accomplish on their own, so Joshua had spent the past several weeks making suitable arrangements. Rising, Lisa asked, "What is the cover story?"

So as not to involve the live aboards more than they had to, they were not telling them any more than was necessary.

"They believe they're helping you sneak off of the ship because you have been 'grounded' by your mother. To human teenagers, being grounded means…."

"Yes, I know what it means," she assured Joshua with a smile. Again it struck her that, despite his extensive experience with the Fifth Column, he had very little practical interactions with humans. She'd been immersed in their ways due to her relationship with Tyler.

"Very good," he said, nodding and leading her to the point on the floor which could be triggered to exit the room. "I will be traveling Earthside as well, but we mustn't interact till we're safely away from the landing site."

"There is a small deli several blocks from the Peace Ambassador Center," she mused. "Richardi's."

"I will see you there." He paused a moment and gave her arm a gentle, reassuring squeeze before triggering the mechanism that drew them from the cell and up into the hall.

A small gaggle of young human females were waiting for them and descended the moment they appeared, drawing Lisa into the center of their group. As they proceeded toward the shuttle bay, they girls handed her a grey, fleece blazer and helped her tuck her long, blonde hair up under a cute, little crochet cap.

Once they reached the more populated areas, the girls began to chat, going on about some actor. It was loud, giggly, inane conversation, but everyone seemed to tune them out, ignoring them as they passed, including the V attendant by the shuttle's entrance.

They kept up their chatter until they parted ways with Lisa outside the Peace Ambassador Center. As she walked toward the deli where she planned to meet Joshua, Lisa marveled at the effectiveness of the teenager's distraction. Everyone had gone out of their way to avoid them, not even noticing her presence amongst the giggling masses.

Richardi's Deli was far less noisy and crowded than she remembered. That probably had something to do with the lingering effects of Amy's bliss. People still wore vague, happy expressions, unlike the varied emotions she was used to when surrounded by humans. There were a few signs of animation returning and she hoped more would recover, given enough time.

Of course, any recovery would be cut short if Anna had Amy bliss them again.

She sat at a small table, sipping a cup of herbal tea as she waited for Joshua to arrive. Nearly 10 minutes later, he did and she did a double take.

Somewhere, Joshua had gotten his hands on a very human set of clothes. He was wearing dark blue jeans, boots, a white t-shirt and a olive green canvas jacket. Though he was attempting to carry himself casually, it was clear to her he wasn't quite comfortable in them.

Raising a hand, she waved him over to join her. He did, slipping into the seat opposite her and wrapping a hand around the mug she pushed in his direction. On a whim, she had ordered him a hot chocolate, just to see his reaction to the sweet, tasty human drink. She was fairly sure he'd yet to actually taste any of the varied foods available on Earth.

"We should call Agent Evans," he said quietly, accepting the drink with a small smile. "I'll feel better once we get you to safety."

His statement made her blink. "You're not going back, are you?" she asked, feeling a cold knot form in her stomach. He couldn't honestly think to return to the ship.

"Not here," he murmured and she realized he didn't want to have this discussion where anyone might overhear. It was a good precaution, she supposed.

When he sipped his cocoa, his reaction was one of startled pleasure. He peered into the mug, contemplating the rich, creamy chocolate and Lisa hid her smile in the rim of her own cup.

Clearly, they'd be finishing their drinks before they went to meet Erica.

TBC…

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