You Are Lieutenant Sam Puckett

Six months after your first flight, you have stopped expecting the nub to call you, have stopped seeing his face floating, weightless so close in front of yours every time you close your eyes for the night. In fact, you and Jack, the man who sat right beside you as you blasted out of the atmosphere, have begun going on regular dates, though nothing has been official.

One day you get a call from your oldest and dearest friend. She has exciting news. She is staring in a movie and is inviting you to the premier in New York. You talk on the phone with her for hours, recalling the good old days when entertainment was the center of your lives.

At first you try to avoid the topic—after all, you haven't spoken to her about him since she told you about their failed relationship, but there is no getting around it; Those days in space are the biggest thing that have ever happened to you, and he was there through it all. It would be a lie to leave it out as the two of you play catch up.

She is just as surprised as you expected; after all, who wouldn't be surprised upon hearing that your best friend was in outer space for 5 days, sharing oxygen with the first love of your life?

You wish you were talking face to face, so that you could tell if that is really hurt in her voice or just your imagination.

"How is he?" She finally asks. Either she is truly over him, or has truly mastered her craft, she sounds completely nonchalant. But, then again, their break up was seven years ago, now... Wow, how times flies.

"He's a bigger geek than ever." You answer. "But it was good seeing him again."

"I'm glad you had someone familiar to share it with." She says and right then you know what she's thinking. You make an abrupt subject change and the conversation heads towards her brother and what he has been up to with his kids before it somehow ends up back on the subject of her movie. In turn for being invited to her premier, you promise to invite her to your next launch.

Your days are filled with earth-bound flying for the air-force. Your ambitions are beginning to take the shape of the moon. NASA has been planning to return to the lunar surface after 40 years. You and Jack often spend hours gazing up at the moon, thinking out loud about what it would be like.

You work harder than ever and keep your fingers crossed.

It is nearly a year later—in fact, you are due to head to New York for that premier any day now, when you are finally assigned to a new flight. You can hardly believe it when they say what the mission is.

You will be the first woman to walk on the moon.

If you had his number, you would have called him directly after calling your sister and your movie star. You spend every waking moment training, the only break you take is to go to New York. It takes a lot of arguing before Mission Control clears you to go, but finally they cave. You pack a carry-on and board the plane.

She is waiting for you at the terminal, looking as gorgeous and Not Real as she does in the previews for her movie. The two of you squeeze each other tight and laugh for twenty minutes straight for no other reason than you are just that thrilled to be together again. She leads you to her car, talking fast, going on and on about how excited she is for you. "Who cares about my movie!" She cries, giving you another hug. "It's a b movie anyway, YOUR GOING TO BE IN HISTORY BOOKS!"

Like it does every time you hear those words, your heart stops, your breath catches, your mind whirls. When in the hell did Sam Puckett become this special? You are so happy, you feel like you can explode—and then you reach her car.

First, all you see is a white-clad elbow resting in the window on the passenger side, then the shirt twists, the body turns around and a cowlick sticks out of the open window to look at the two of you approaching. He smiles one big, lopsided smile and the door springs open.

"The first woman on the Moon!" He shouts it so loudly that it echoes in the parking garage and several people stop to look in curiosity. The mission hasn't gone public yet, so no one knows what the hell he is talking about.

He actually runs and scoops you up, twirls you around. "I'm so proud of you!"

He sets you back down before your brain has time to register anything. You feel dizzy as your twin gets out of the car also, followed by her fiancé and your best friend's tall brother, who is growing a beard now. You give them all tight hugs, and humbly accept their praises. You find out that he has been spending all of his days in an underground laboratory somewhere working with some of the best minds in the country on something—he doesn't even bother to try to explain it. No one really asks him to.

For the night of the premier, you have to squeeze into an elegant pale yellow dress that she loans you and then you have to sit for nearly two hours as her people do your make-up and your hair. This glamour is her life. You can't help but recognize the similarities in your lives and are quick to point them out to her. You both spend months on a single project, you both have to be extremely patient during the prep for it, and you both do things that will forever be immortalized, be it science or cinematic history.

Her brother's beard clashes with the elegance of his tuxedo, but he refuses to shave. Apparently both his wife and his daughter love "daddy's whiskers." Your heart swells at the thought of such a happy little family unit. It occurs to you—not for the first time--that you are nearly thirty and your biological clock is running out. However, you shove that thought away like usual.

Your sister and her future husband look absolutely fabulous in each other's arms . . and you lose your breath when you see him in his tux. He looks you up and down and jumps his eye brows. "You clean up nice." He says. You return the compliment and then all of you climb into a limo.

The movie is a comedy, of course, and it is a hit. At the after party, you can't allow yourself even a single glass of Champaign. NASA only cleared you for two days. You will be returning in the morning and hangovers would only make the flight back to Texas a nightmare. You meet several famous movie stars and laugh more than you have in your whole life. You make a mental note to set aside time to visit these friends more than just once a year.

This time, when he says goodbye in the airport, he hugs you tight and promises to be there for your moon launch. Part of you hates that he whispers the promise in your ear, another part threatens to go weak in the knees. You are thankful that he hugged you first, so that the round of hugs that follow relieve the tension he left in you. Your zany bearded friend is last and he spins you around. "I'm naming my next daughter after you!" he shouts "AND I'm making you godmother! That way I can tell the world I know you like I know my own sister!"

Right before you board the plane, you look over your shoulder to see that the others have already turned to head back for their car, but the nub is still standing there, leaning on the corner and watching you. He smiles when he sees you look back, raises one hand high in the air and waves. You catch the wave and vaguely plan to carry it with you to the moon.

A/N: is that last line too cheesy? sorry, I couldn't help it.