By Sambrea
Six months later, they finally reached orbit around Earth.
"I'm going to give something a try," Jason said with a grin to Neri, who was looking out the window as they settled into a wide orbit around Earth and the moon. "Eagle to hq. Come in guys."
"Jason, is that you?" squealed Mera a few seconds later.
"Mera it's nice to hear your voice too. Is it safe to land now, or should we wait until night fall?"
"Oh, you'll have to wait till night fall. We've started doing tours again. Oh, but I want to see you guys now!"
"Well, we could transport a couple people up," Neri said with a grin.
"Like Brett and I? We're on break today."
"Sure. That would be great."
"Ok, give me ten minutes. I'll get back in touch with you."
"Ok, Eagle out."
++++++++++
Mera was grinning from ear to ear as she stuck the communicator in her pocket.
"Hey Brett, where did you get to?"
"I'm right here," Brett said, coming into the kitchen. "What's up?"
"Guess who just contacted me?"
"Who?"
"Jason. He and Neri just reached orbit."
"What? You're kidding."
"No. Why would I kid about that. They invited us to go up for a bit."
"Oh, awesome."
"Let's go over to the VC first though so they don't think we just disappeared."
"Of course."
Two minutes later, Brett opened the door to the VC and followed Mera in.
"Hey, what's up?" Roj asked.
'Neri and Jason are back,' Brett signed.
'You're kidding.'
'No, I just talked to them. Brett and I are going up there in a minute.'
'Oh cool. I wish I could go with.'
'We'll probably stay up there till the sun sets. There's an extra communicator buried in Jason and Neri's nest, all right?'
'Have fun. You can use the back room.'
"Thanks," Brett said, leading the way to the back.
"Mera to Eagle. We're ready. Two to beam up."
"All right," Neri answered. "Let me warn you that a lot has changed for us."
"Come on, how much can you have changed?"
Jason snorted. "You'll see."
"Just a second and I will transport you up."
A few seconds later, Mera felt the tingle of the transporter.
"Holy crap, what happened to you two?" Brett asked, noticing the pair were in wheelchairs.
"Hmm. Not hello, not it's great to see you, just what happened," Jason said with a grin.
"All right, all right. It's great to see you guys," Mera admitted, walking forward to hug Neri.
After a moment, Brett hugged Jason and then switched.
"Sit down," Neri said, motioning to the pull-down seats on ones side of the table.
Mera and Brett did and Jason and Neri pulled into the other side, which was wider to accommodate them.
"Did you find Mom and Winston?" Jason asked.
Brett shook his head slowly. "No. I think you were right Jason, I think they were transported to Luna."
"God. Well, at least they're in good hands."
"So what the heck happened to you guys? The absolutely last thing I expected was to see you guys in wheelchairs."
"I know. It's…"
"We are both paralyzed."
"What happened?"
Jason quickly explained what happened.
"Fortunately, we were the only ones hurt and I was basically hailed as a national hero. We got the best of care, but it took a year to really get to the point where we could come home but we're at the point where we're completely independent again, which is really good since we spent six months alone in space."
"I was hit lower than Jason was so I retained a lot more use of my hands than he did and I took on a lot of the things that require fast hand work."
"You did? Here, squeeze my hand," Mera told Jason, grabbing his hand before he could argue.
Jason did his best to, but knew it wasn't much.
"God, that's horrible," Mera said, letting Jason's hand go.
"Actually, it's slowly getting better, but it takes time to do a lot of things and it could be worse," Jason added with a sigh, flexing his hand slowly.
"I'm so glad that you guys are back," Brett said. "Is this thing bigger?"
"Yeah. We got this thing expanded when we were paralyzed."
"It has a few other features," Neri added.
"Like what?"
"There's a lift built into the stairs, all the cabinets are lower. We removed the side of the bathtub so we can roll right in. The chairs, we actually designed. They're collapsible, waterproof and durable enough to go over the terrain of the island."
"Oh, that's so neat," Mera said with a smile.
"We also got these designed," Neri commented, pulling out on of the pulls.
"What's that?" Brett asked.
"It's to pull ourselves into the chair if we need to. We have had to be pretty much self sufficient."
"Good point. And that's a pretty good thing, considering what your sleeping options are," Brett said.
"Well actually, I've got a good idea for a lift system to get us up into the trees," Jason said.
"There is something else," Neri mentioned. "What do we do with this thing?"
"Well, there are things we could do with it," Brett said.
"Like what?"
"Well a lot of us would like to travel to PO ourselves, including Brett and I."
"Wow, I had no idea. Well, that's certainly a possibility."
"It is possible that we will have visitors from PO in less than a year," Neri admitted.
"Oh. In that case, maybe it would be better if we did something else instead."
++++++++++
That evening it was a wonderful reunion: lots of hugs and a lot of explanations, including something Brett and Mera had kept from the pair, that Brett had searched out his and Jason's birth father, Paul Bates and convinced him to move to the island so they would have some adult support. He still worked on the mainland, but used a boat to go back and forth every day.
He had been just as surprised to see them as Jason was to see him.
Paul, unlike Dianne, had never remarried, and even though having been completely overwhelmed at first, everyone agreed that he had learned to take everything in stride and help in any way needed, even learning to use the sign system everyone else used.
"You know, when Brett first got in touch with me it was a shock. I'll be honest with you. I never expected to hear from either of you again. But I'm loving my life here. If you ever do locate your mother, I won't stand in the way. If you decide to kick me out of your lives again, I won't be happy, but I'll respect your decision."
"You know what Dad? You won't get rid of us that easily," Brett said with a grin.
Everyone nodded his or her agreement.
Chapter 2
A year later Paul, Jason, Brett and Mera were planning the night that was going to change Neri and Jason's lives: Jason was going to propose to Neri.
Mera had lent her necklace to Paul so that he could take it to a jeweler and have it copied in gold and a diamond so it would match with Neri's own and they would be able to connect the two so she would be able to wear both at once.
Everyone but Neri knew about the plans and everyone wanted to help.
It was a gorgeous evening when everything was set up on the cliff.
Neri was wheeled blindfolded up to the table set up with candles and dinner under covered plates.
It was a nice evening with a cloudless sky and a light breeze. The sun was just starting to set when Neri removed the blindfold
"What is going on?" she asked, a hint of a smile on her face.
"Well, would you like to find out now, or have dinner first?" Jason asked, a smile on his face.
"I am too curious to wait."
"Well, normally I would get down on one knee for this, but since that's not possible…" Jason said shyly. "Here, open this," he said handing her the wrapped box containing the finished necklace to Neri.
"Jason," she said, obviously speechless as she lifted the necklace from it's box.
"Neri, we've been the closest of friends for so many years I can't imagine my life without you anymore. Will you marry me?"
"Of course Jason, I would love to," she said, wheeling around the side of the table so they could hug and kiss.
When they finally separated, Jason reached over and grabbed the necklace.
"Now for the ultimate test," he said with a grin. "Can I get the clasp closed."
It was the work of a couple of minutes but Jason was able to get the necklace closed around her neck.
Jason kissed Neri softly on her neck before wheeling around to the other side of the table.
"I was not expecting that," Neri admitted, still grining.
"That was the idea. It would have been kind of pointless if you had known."
"Who else knew?"
"Come on, in this family? Everyone except you."
"How long have you been planning this?"
"About a month. We had a jeweler make a copy of Mera's necklace the last time she and Brett took the Eagle out so you wouldn't realize she wasn't wearing it."
"Good idea. Though I probably would not have noticed."
"Well, we might as well start on dinner," Jason said still smiling.
++++++++++
A month later, everyone was sitting around a fire looking at a letter detailing a deep threat to their way of life.
A social worker had arrived on the island earlier that evening to talk to Paul and explain what would be required of the family: that all of the children except Jason and Neri would be required to go to school on the mainland, that they would have to submit to weekly visits from a social worker including surprise ones.
"But there's no way we can follow these instructions," Brett said holding the letter the woman had left with them.
"I know, that's the thing," Paul said with a sigh. "It's not like we're a normal family who just doesn't attend school or anything."
"I've got an idea, but I'm not sure you guys will like it," Jason said with a sigh of his own.
"What?"
"We abandon the island. Everyone but Neri, Dad and I go to sea, taking the communicators with them. We can keep in touch that way, but we wouldn't be able to return."
"Where would you guys go?" Mera asked.
"Into space, the only other option open to us. Dad doesn't know how to swim properly, and Neri and I don't have the capacity to live completely in the sea anymore."
"Well, this gives us a couple days, thank god. We don't have to make a decision right away," Paul said.
"I don't think we have any other choice," Brett said.
"There's one other. Jason and I could head out to PO and get help."
"That'll take a year or more though, won't it?" Brett pointed out.
"Yeah, that's the only thing."
"If you go do that, where would I go," Paul asked, obviously considering the idea.
Jason shrugged. "Well, there's a couple possibilities. You could come with us the full trip, which would mean a year in a little craft really meant for only two. Or, we've made a few friends along the way and we could drop you off at say Vulcan and pick you up on the way back."
"The only other problem with giving up and going to PO is that everyone here would have to give up their lives here, at least the parts that don't involve the island. Is anyone really willing to do that?" Neri pointed out.
Everyone who had friends in the ocean shook their heads.
"Great," Paul muttered. "You guys aren't willing to leave, even though it is the best thing for you?"
"Nope, sorry," Roj said. "We are willing to go to sea though. And if we all stick relatively close to one another, we should be fine."
"We have two extra communicators sitting in the Eagle," Jason said. "If everyone splits up into two groups, you know, one for those who migrate in fall and winter and one for those who migrate in spring and summer, it should work out."
"I think Cade and Dard should go to Hali and Dore's parents in Canada," Paul suggested. "They'll be safe there and can get a decent education."
'But we don't want to leave everyone else,' Cade signed.
"It's really not that bad an idea though, Cade," Jason said. "They know how to help kids like you and Dard and you can find a school where you can make friends and get something no one else in this family ever really has a chance to get, except for of course Undri, which is a high school diploma and a college education."
'All right, I'll go,' Cade signed, obviously not thrilled with the concept.
"Me too," Dard said.
"I'll go get a hold of Hali's parents," Jason said, rolling out of the circle of firelight.
A few hours later, everyone left the island under the cover of only a sliver of a moon, taking with them the few possessions no one was willing to leave behind: a copy of the picture from Luna, which went with Cade and Dard to Canada, and the few momentos they had all gathered over the years with Jason and Neri promising to contact the groups if they ever found another place they could all live.
Author's note: I originally came up with this idea to come during the
next part but I had a feeling that something needed to come in between
so there it is. I'll be on vacation for the next two weeks without
internet access so don't expect any updates till after that!