"Uncle Wash, you should come over for dinner tonight," Ally said as she sat down next to him, feet dangling off the ramp they were sitting on out on the floor. "Aunty Emma will be over too."

Wash chuckled, "Don't you want to have dinner at my place? We haven't done that for a while. You can play with Rebel while I cook dinner."

"That sounds like fun too," Ally nodded.

"Anything specific you're hungry for?" Wash asked.

"Nope."

"I have leftover chicken alfredo in my fridge or those burritos in the freezer," Wash offered.

"Whichever," Ally shrugged.

"Ya know, it's probably a good thing you are not a picky eater," Wash chuckled.

"Nope," Ally smiled up at him. She swung her feet back and forth. "No offense Uncle Wash, but this is almost boring without Mila here."

"I hope you say that to her when I'm not here," Wash smirked.

"Maybe…" Wash raised an eyebrow at her as she gave him a guilty look. "Not that I'm not having fun with you because I totally am."

"Totally," Wash agreed as he stood up.

"It's just normally she's picking on you about something and you are just in a really good mood and today you're kinda…blah."

"Kinda blah, huh?" Wash chuckled.

"Just a bit," Ally agreed.

"Didn't sleep well last night I guess," Wash shrugged.

"Know what I think?"

"What?" Wash asked hesitantly, unsure if he wanted to hear her answer.

"I think you miss Mila," Ally smiled at him as he looked down at her.

"You think so, huh?"

"Yup," Ally nodded. "And actually Uncle Wash, I know so."

"Really?" Wash replied dryly.

"Yup."

Wash rolled his eyes and looked at her, "Have I told you that you are far too much like your father for my liking?"

"Momma says that all the time," Ally giggled. "Am I right?"

"I'm not answering that."

"Momma says if someone doesn't want to answer something then that means the person who asked is right," Ally replied giving him a grin. Wash narrowed his eyes at her.

"I really want to tell you not to listen to everything your mother tells you, but I feel like you are brainy enough to use that to your advantage, thus getting me into trouble one day," Wash grumbled.

"You are still avoiding my question Uncle Wash."

"I'm going to keep avoiding your question."

"Why?"

"Because I can. Are you going to skate or are we done?"

Ally rolled her eyes at him before standing up and skating down the ramp. Wash huffed before following her.


"See Jensen, you did perfectly fine," North chuckled as she landed the pelican back in the bay at the Facility. "I barely had to touch the controls at all."

"Thanks sir," Jensen replied still not sounding sure.

"Yea perfectly fine," South commented. "Only managed to make one person out of eight sick."

"That's a win in my book," North patted the girl on the shoulder. "Let's get these crates off and then you all are free."

They walked back to the cargo bay and helped the others move things off the ship. It wasn't until North and Smith had brought out the last one that he noticed there was an extra body besides Lopez in the garage.

"Well if it ain't the welcome wagon," North chuckled holding out a hand for Wash to shake. "I see you held down the fort while we were gone."

"Oh yea, they almost fell apart without you here," Wash chuckled as North lifted off his helmet. "How'd things go?"

"Great," North nodded as Lopez walked off to show the recruits where to pile the crates. "Nice, simple pick up. Guys are doing well, Tucker said he'd check in tomorrow with Carolina."

Wash nodded, "I'm sure she'd appreciate that. I'm also glad you appear to have made it back in one piece."

"Yup, she did well. I barely had to correct anything. Landing was a bit rough the first time because she forgot about the landing gear, but we made it. Ship doesn't even have a scratch on it."

"It wasn't that smooth," South commented joining them as the recruits finished moving things around.

"There were some bumps, but otherwise it was fine."

"Except that Ross got air sick because of it," South rolled her eyes. Wash glanced at her, but tried to hide his concern and keep from looking at where Ross was stacking the crates with the others.

"Like I said, still a win," North shook his head. "Don't be that hard on her. Jensen's trying pretty hard to get the hang of everything and she did very well for someone who doesn't have a lot of flight experience."

"At least you didn't crash," Wash pointed out.

"Exactly," North nodded. "You two got this? I would like to get home to my wife if possible."

"She's in her office," Wash chuckled.

"Why am I not surprised," North shook his head. "Alright, I'll see you two later."

South and Wash both waved him off as they stood and watched the recruits. South glanced at Wash who was no longer trying to hide the fact he was checking Ross over from where they stood. She rolled her eyes, "She's fine. I kept an eye on her for you."

"Hm?"

South nodded towards Ross, "Missy. Said she wasn't used to flying really and driving's more her speed."

"Ah." Wash cleared his throat, "Thanks."

"Any time bud," South sighed. "Everything going good I take it?"

"I guess, yea," Wash shrugged putting his hands in his pockets.

"Good."

"I feel like I should be concerned you're worried about me," Wash gave an awkward chuckle.

"I can stop if you'd like?" South rolled her eyes.

"No, it's just weird getting used to it," Wash countered. Smith walked up to stand in front of the two of them. "What's up?"

"We're all done and hoping we can go now, sir," Smith answered. Wash looked at South.

"Have fun," South nodded.

"I'll see everyone for drill in the morning," Wash called after them as they all filed out. He watched them all walk over to their bags and grab them before heading out of the garage and back towards the main building and the locker room. He tried to hide his smirk when he noticed Ross was making a fuss about hers and took his time heading out into the hall. South had rolled her eyes at him before following the others just as Ross came out into the hallway. Wash grinned at her, "Hi."

"Hey," she sighed adjusting her bag on her shoulder.

"Heard you got sick?"

She shrugged, "Apparently flying doesn't agree with me."

"You alright?" he asked giving her a look of concern.

"Nothing a good night's sleep won't cure," she replied. "Would you hate me if I just went back to my dorm?"

"Not at all."

"I mean, I'd like nothing more than to come over, but I really just want my own bed."

"Hey," Wash stopped them before they walked outside. He glanced around quick and kissed her forehead, "You do whatever you want. If you'd rather go to your dorm and go to sleep, I will not be offended in the least."

"You're sure?" she gave him a worried look.

"Mila, I am positive," Wash nodded. "I'd rather you be rested for drill tomorrow." She sighed and gave him a nod. "So apparently, skating is not as much fun when you're not there."

"Who said that?" she chuckled as they exited the building.

"Ally," Wash shrugged. "She says it's much more fun when you're there because she likes you picking on me and that I was being blah because she thought I missed you."

"Oh really?" Ross smirked. Wash nodded. "Well, did you?"

"Course, but I wasn't going to tell her that," Wash replied.

"Why not? You could. I'm sure she wouldn't tell anyone."

"Maybe," Wash shrugged. "We'll see. Sometimes I like that it's just us in on the secret."

"Secrets have a way of coming on when we least expect them though," Ross countered.

"Are you saying you want to announce it to everyone?" Wash raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, just trying to make an argument to debate you with," she replied.

"Smart ass."

"You know it," she winked at him. She stopped outside the computer room, "I'm gonna cut through here. More direct route to drop my stuff off and head to my dorm."

"Got it. Have a good night," he nodded wishing the hallway wasn't so exposed. She winked at him again before walking into the computer room.


"Please tell me you weren't in here the entire time I was gone," North greeted leaning in Emma's office door.

"Course not," Emma chuckled. "I told Church to alert me when you guys were almost back and then came over. Figured I can check my firewalls while I wait for you to land and get unloaded. I'm not that much of a workaholic ya know."

"Just checking," North grinned. "What'd you do while I was gone?"

"Had dinner next door and then just cleaned the house mostly," Emma replied. "Still waiting on my reading material to get here so I couldn't do that and it's not like we have much together yet in regards to the nursery so couldn't do that. So cleaned and relaxed when I wasn't cleaning."

"How did you manage to live without me for an entire weekend?"

"I don't know," Emma replied as she started shutting down her computer. "It was super easy though. Had the bed all to myself which was really nice."

"Yea and what'd you do for body heat since you couldn't steal mine?" North chuckled.

"See, that's the nice thing about being pregnant, sometimes you get hot flashes," Emma shrugged.

"All night?" North raised an eyebrow at her. "If you're getting them all night, then we should tell Mei."

"Oh shut up," Emma chuckled standing up. "Of course I missed my space heater. I had three blankets on me and I'm not talking those thin ones in the closet either."

"So what you're saying is I should buy a heater for our bedroom for when I have to go away?"

"Maybe," Emma walked around and kissed him. "Come on, Garth and Nick are coming over."

"Great."

"Oh don't be like that."

"That wasn't a sarcastic great. I enjoy your old teammates. They tell me tons of embarrassing things about you when you're not in the room."

"They do not."

"Sure they do," North grinned. "I think my favorite so far was when you all were drinking and decided to leave your bunk to go find something or other and couldn't find your way back and your CO found you all asleep on his front porch."

"I hate them…" Emma grumbled.

"They didn't say if you got in trouble or not for that."

"We had to run laps," Emma huffed. "And when I say laps, I mean he made us run the entire morning and if we stopped running, he made us drink more because of how sick we all were when he woke us up finally. That was Parker's fault for that one."

"I can't wait to hear what they'll tell me tonight," North smirked as Emma glared up at him.

"Nothing if I have any say about it," Emma grumbled next to him.


"I'm glad things are going well so far," Carolina replied after Tucker finished updating her on what was going on. "And there haven't been any signs of trouble anywhere?"

"Not that we've seen," Tucker shrugged. There was crash in the background and Tucker huffed, "Did you really have to send Caboose with?"

"Yes," Carolina chuckled. "How's all the alien tech research coming?"

"Ok I guess," Tucker sighed. "It's all foreign shit to me. Grey's been at it and was complaining about Junior not being here."

"He still at the embassy?"

"Yup," Tucker nodded. "Got a message from him the other day. Should be coming back soon. Or at least, stopping in for a visit soon."

"Well, be sure to let me know as soon as you know when he's coming and I'll make sure you're here to see him."

"Thanks Carolina. Ya know, you've come a long way since we first met you," Tucker pointed out.

"Thanks Tucker…" Carolina rolled her eyes. "I'll talk to you later. My class is starting soon."

"Right. And you're sure I can't send Caboose back?"

"Yes. Goodbye."

Carolina ended the call before standing up and heading out of her office. She went to close the door just as Wash's was opening down the hall. She paused figuring she'd wait for Wash and was only slightly surprised when Ross walked out of his office. Carolina waited for her to close the door and to look up before wiggling her fingers in greeting. Ross gave a small squeak as a blush crept up her face.

"Hope lunch didn't tire you out," Carolina grinned as Ross got closer.

"Oh, no," Ross shook her head as her face got redder. "No, I won't do anything like that in this building. Not after I found out about the eavesdropper who doesn't want to eavesdrop. I mean, not that he doesn't try to be convincing, but really, we just had lunch together since I didn't go over last night."

"I'm kidding with you," Carolina chuckled.

"Oh."

"He tries to be convincing?" Carolina asked raising an eyebrow at her as they headed down the stairs.

"Uh yea," Ross smirked, running a hand through her hair. "I don't think he realizes about Church."

"That is almost entertaining enough to hold over his head," Carolina shook her head.

"I agree," Ross nodded.

"Things must still be going well then."

"I'd like to think so, yea. I mean…yea things are good. I'm allowed to go over whenever I want and stay however long I want since he likes having me there supposedly."

"Good," Carolina smiled. "He's seemed a lot happier than I ever remember him being."

Ross nodded. A thought crossed her mind and she looked up at Carolina, pausing at the bottom of the stairs, "There's one thing I'm curious about."

"What's that?" Carolina asked giving her a curious look.

"He uh…he doesn't really ever talk about past stuff…and I can understand why knowing some of what you all went through, but is that normal for him?" she asked.

Carolina took a moment to think through all the conversations she had ever had with Wash and realized that Ross had a point. "Sounds right…I mean, what past type stuff we talking? Project past?"

"No," Ross shook her head, "Not exactly. I mean, I know most of that, but like before the military and during the military before he joined Project Freelancer. He doesn't talk about any of it and I brought it up, he sort of closed himself off. I'm not too bothered by it really, but I figured since you've known him forever, that maybe you could say if it was a normal thing or not."

"I guess, yea," Carolina nodded. "The only thing I know about him before he joined the Project was that he had two cats at some point because the pictures were in his locker and that he liked to skateboard. Otherwise, he never talked about home really or the military before he joined. North and York gave him a hard time about it at first, but then he put them into the dirt and they stopped. Eventually he mellowed out and let us pick on him without too much of a fuss."

"So nothing I should be concerned with?"

Carolina shook her head, "I'm sure he'll talk to you about all the when he's ready. Trust is big with him and while I know he's trusts all of us with his life, that doesn't necessarily mean he trusts all of us enough to delve into his past if he's shut the door on it. Does that make sense?"

"Yea," Ross nodded. "He's said the same thing. I guess I just wanted some reassurance. Thank you."

"Anytime," Carolina smiled.

"Agent South was telling us all about how you and Agent York tried to convince him it was ok to throw up in helmet."

"Ha, yea…totally did. Those were good times…You should ask him about the time he got a grappling hook to his crotch."

"Wait, what?" Ross chuckled. Carolina gave her a wink before walking out onto the floor.